News

From 23-25 October, EPFL will host the first meeting of the European Consortium UltimateGaN, launched in May. This research project gathers 26 partners -including EPFL- from nine countries. Its volume of 48 million euros makes it one of the largest European research projects.The objective is to conduct research on the next generation of energy-saving chips based on the new semiconductor material gallium nitride (GaN).

Working with clinicians from Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School, a team of EPFL researchers has developed a conformable electrode implant that will allow people with a dysfunctional inner ear to hear again. This new device could replace existing auditory brainstem implants, which have a number of shortcomings.

Two students from EPFL's School of Engineering have developed a smart speaker with voice-activation technology that connects patients directly to their loved ones as well as caregivers and emergency services. The system, designed to save time and provide greater peace of mind, has already been tested by several home-care providers.

Romain Fleury, a tenure-track assistant professor who heads the Laboratory of Wave Engineering, has been named best teacher in electrical and electronic engineering.

Researchers at EPFL have created a metallic microdevice in which they can define and tune patterns of superconductivity. Their discovery, which holds great promise for quantum technologies of the future, has just been published in Science.

Dominique Pioletti, an associate professor at EPFL’s School of Engineering, has won the Credit Suisse Award for Best Teaching 2019. Students enrolled in his Master’s-level biomechanics class get to work directly on problems encountered by doctors.

EPFL scientists have developed a soft artificial skin that provides haptic feedback and – thanks to a sophisticated self-sensing mechanism – has the potential to instantaneously adapt to a wearer’s movements. Applications for the new technology range from medical rehabilitation to virtual reality.

For EPFL’s 50^th anniversary, the School of Engineering proposes a series of portraits of female professors working within the school. Today we meet Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, who has just been appointed full professor.

he Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology has announced the appointement of several professors at EPFL School of Engineering.

Professor Pedro Reis of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering has been elected to be the next vice-president of the Society of Engineering Science (SES).

Professor Francois Gallaire of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering has been elected as Fellow of the American Physical Society for 2019.

Deepfakes – or fake videos produced to look real through the use of artificial intelligence – pose a growing challenge. That’s why an EPFL research group has been teaming up with the Swiss startup Quantum Integrity to develop a deepfake detection solution over the past two years. The team has been awarded an Innosuisse grant starting on 1 October, with deployment as early as next year.

Touradj Ebrahimi, head of the Multimedia Signal Processing Group (MMSPG) at the School of Engineering, is recipient of the first ever Multimedia Star Innovator Award organized by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

EPFL scientists have helped develop a microscopic glass device that doctors could use to inject medicine into retinal veins with unprecedented accuracy. Their instrument meets an important need in eye surgery, delivering exceptional stability and precision.

EPFL scientists have successfully tested new neuroprosthetic technology that combines robotic control with users’ voluntary control, opening avenues in the new interdisciplinary field of shared control for neuroprosthetic technologies. 

This weekend in Yverdon, the HydroContest EPFL Team took first place in the nautical competition with its lightweight boat, second place in endurance, and third place in speed with its heavyweight boat.

EPFL scientists have shown how light inside optical on-chip microresonators can be crystallized in a form of periodic pulse trains that can boost the performance of optical communication links or endow ultrafast LiDAR with sub-micron precision.

EPFL spin-offs Flyability and Lunaphore came in first and second place, respectively, in this year’s TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards. The ranking is established every year by a panel of 100 startup experts from Switzerland. Two other EPFL spin-offs – Bestmile and Gamaya – also made it into the top ten.

Researchers at EPFL and the University of Bern have developed a groundbreaking method for studying the electrical signals of cardiac muscle cells. The technology has numerous potential applications in basic and applied research – such as improving the search for mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmias.

Two EPFL Master’s students, an EPFL PhD student, a UNIL PhD student and an EPFL alumnus have teamed up to develop a new alarm app called Wakeit. The app draws on users’ social-media contacts to make getting out of bed a little easier.

EPFL scientists have developed an algorithm that can determine whether a super-resolution microscope is operating at maximum resolution based on a single image. The method is compatible with all types of microscopes and could one day be a standard feature of automated models.

The 9^thInternational Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines (AMAM conference) took place at EPFL.

Summer series – Student projects. For her Master’s project, Emylou Jaquier decided to tackle the growing problem of plastic waste. She sifted through EPFL garbage bins to collect different types of plastics and test how they could be used in 3D printing.

Researchers from EPFL and the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands have developed an extremely fast optical method for sculpting complex shapes in stem-cell-laden hydrogels and then vascularizing the resulting tissue. Their groundbreaking technique stands to change the field of tissue engineering.

During the IEEE Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility and Signal and Power Integrity, Nicolas Mora and Farhad Rachidi from the EMC Laboratory received the 2019 Motohisa Kanda Award for the most cited paper of the IEEE Transactions on EMC in the past five years. In parallel, a paper by two EPFL laboratories received the Best IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility Award.

EPFL scientists are investigating new ways to provide visual signals to the blind by directly stimulating the optic nerve. Their preliminary study on animals uses a new type of neural electrode and provides distinct signals.

Scientists at EPFL have developed a tiny pump that could play a big role in the development of autonomous soft robots, lightweight exoskeletons and smart clothing. Flexible, silent and weighing only one gram, it is poised to replace the rigid, noisy and bulky pumps currently used. The scientists’ work has just been published in Nature.

EPFL researchers have developed biodegradable microresonators that can be heated locally with a wireless system. Doctors could soon be using them in implants to control the release of painkillers within tissue.

Two EPFL Master’s students have co-developed a technology for growing a small garden right in your home or office. They launched a startup to market their smart indoor greenhouses and installed prototypes at EPFL with the support of the Act for Change LAB platform (EPFL Sustainability).

EPFL's scientists recently inaugurated a new research center in Senegal to test solar panels and their underlying components. Founded in conjunction with École Supérieure Polytechnique de Dakar, the center will help solar-panel operators assess the quality of parts they source locally. It will also provide specialized training and host PhD students performing thesis work.

Francesco Stellacci, Full Professor at the EPFL School of Engineering (Institute of Materials and Institute of Bioengineering) has been elected in the Academia Europeae.

Hatice Altug, head of the BIOnanophotonic Systems laboratory has been awarded an ERC PoC Grant for her project: “Portable infrared biochemical sensor enabled by pixelated dielectric metasurfaces”

Using similar propulsion technology, the Hyperloop pods developed by EPFL and ETH Zurich turned in a solid performance in Los Angeles: EPFLoop topped out at 238 km/h in the airless tube set up by SpaceX, while Swissloop peaked at 259km/h. The Technical University of Munich hit a top speed of 463km/h, demolishing the record – and its capsule – in the process.

EPFL scientists, working in association with colleagues at the University of Twente and the University of Pisa, have studied the link between the number of bristles on dandelion seeds and the ability of those seeds to travel long distances in a stable manner. 

EPFL startup Flybotix has developed a novel drone with just two propellers and an advanced stabilization system that allow it to fly for twice as long as conventional models. That fact, together with its small size, makes it perfect for inspecting hard-to-reach parts of industrial facilities such as ducts.

Francesco Stellacci, a professor at the EPFL School of Engineering (Institute of Materials) has been elected in the Academia Europeae.

A team of EPFL researchers has developed tiny 10-gram robots that are inspired by ants: they can communicate with each other, assign roles among themselves and complete complex tasks together. These reconfigurable robots are simple in structure, yet they can jump and crawl to explore uneven surfaces. The researchers have just published their work in Nature.

Data from Mental Work project, conducted as an experimental artwork at EPFL's Artlab, indicates that BMI is robust and accessible to the general public, spurring new research collaborations in Switzerland on user experience.

EPFL scientists have developed a model that can help policymakers factor in uncertainty when they map out their energy strategies. Today such strategies are based largely on forecasts of fuelprices, technology costs and energy demand. However, these forecasts are often incorrect and can lead to flawed decisions.

EPFL researchers have discovered a way of making semiconducting, photoluminescent nanotubes form spontaneously in liquid solutions. The tubes, which consist of several walls that are perfectly uniform and just a few atoms thick, display optical properties that make them perfect for use as fluorophores or photocatalysts.

Researchers at EPFL have developed a method that uses artificial intelligence to design next-generation heat-pump compressors. Their method can cut the pumps’ power requirement by around 25%.

EPFL researchers have studied the dynamics of network structures using one of the world’s most-visited websites: Wikipedia. In addition to a better understanding of online networks, their work brings exciting insights into human social behavior and collective memory.

On 17 June, students from EPFL and 12 other European universities headed to Zermatt as part of the IGLUNA project. Their mission? To build and demonstrate a prototype lunar habitat in the ice that could one day support human life on the Moon.

The 16th International Workshop on Nanomechanical Sensors took place on June 19-21 2019. This workshop has been organized every year gathering the most prominent figures in the nanomechanical sensing community. This 2019 edition focused on two of the most promising fields: quantum and bio-sensing.

On Wednesday, 29 May, a team of EPFL students – who qualified for this summer’s Hyperloop Pod Competition in Los Angeles – unveiled a prototype they hope will bring home a win.

EPFL scientists have discovered a new type of 2D magnetic material that can be integrated into spintronic devices.

Researchers at EPFL and the University of Lyon have developed a device for creating cell aggregates in a fully controlled manner. Their aim is to model tumors more accurately in order to test potential new treatments. 

Professor Emeritus Michel Rappaz, of the Institute of Materials at EPFL, received an honorary doctorate from McMaster University. 

Following a rigorous selection process, 35 outstanding students from over 2000 international applicants have been invited to spend three months this summer working in research laboratories and interacting with faculty members and Ph.D. students at EPFL’s School of Engineering.

"Nano-electronics and digital technologies: addressing some of the future challenges": talk by Luc Van den hove, President and CEO of IMEC, June 5th.