Travels
Danial Kiamarsi’s research visit to UNIMORE
Danial concluded 2025, his first year as a PhD student in meLAB, with a highly productive research visit to the laboratory of Prof. Michele Giugliano at Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). UNIMORE is a long-term partner of the CROSSBRAIN project and internationally recognised for its expertise in neuroscience and neurophysiology. During November and December, Danial undertook intensive in vitro and ex vivo neurophysiology and biocompatibility studies as part of this collaboration.
Danial’s PhD focuses on the development of conductive, bioactive hydrogel-based coatings for neural implants. Alongside his doctoral research, he also serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Neurobite, a spin-off company from meLAB working on brain probes for stroke and epilepsy treatment and their clinical translation. This visit allowed him to gain essential hands-on training in the functional testing and validation of neural implant systems, directly supporting both his PhD and Neurobite’s translational activities.
During his stay, Danial received training on multiple Multielectrode Array (MEA) platforms for recording and stimulating neuronal activity in both brain slices and primary neuronal cultures. He also developed skills in fluorescent calcium imaging and immunocytochemistry (ICC) to study neuronal function and the inflammatory responses of neurons and glial cells following contact with neural probes. These techniques are highly relevant to assessing the performance and safety of developing neural interfaces and will significantly strengthen the experimental components of his doctoral work.
Danial reports an excellent collaborative experience working closely with Dr. Adam Armada-Moreira and Dr. Alessio Di Clemente, and expresses gratitude for the hospitality and support provided by the UNIMORE team. Beyond the lab, he also greatly enjoyed Italian culture (especially the weather and the food!), making the visit both scientifically and personally rewarding.
Second BRAINSTORM review meeting a success
Last week, the BRAINSTORM project successfully passed its second review meeting with the European Innovation Council (EIC). This milestone marks the completion of the project’s second reporting period, during which the consortium demonstrated substantial advances across all core areas of BRAINSTORM’s technology development.
meLAB postdoctoral researcher Dr. Lucía Nieto Sierra introduced Work Package 2, focused on electronics and wireless stimulation, and presented the work carried out by meLAB members, especially PhD student Tala Masalehdan, on the task Design of a Multifunctional Electromagnetic Chamber.
The meeting was highly enriching, offering a valuable opportunity to meet the consortium members in person and engage in constructive discussions about the project’s next steps. In addition, Lucía and Tala had the chance to visit the laboratories at Friedrich Alexander Universität (FAU), providing further insights into the experimental capabilities and strengthening collaboration within the consortium.
A warm thank you to all consortium members and coordinators for their dedicated preparation and contributions, ensuring a successful and productive review meeting.
Dynamic duo Maria and Ángel take Boston by storm
NEUROBITE CEO Maria Cerezo Sanchez and Ángel Canal Alonso flew out to the US for a ‘Neurotech Listening and Discovery Tour’ across Mayo Clinic, Boston and New York. From 23rd November to 14th December they toured the area meeting clinicians, founders, advisors and investors across the US neurotech ecosystem, with a focus on stroke, epilepsy and neurosurgery. They visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester then moved onto the Materials and Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting and Exhibit in Boston, ending their journey on 7th Dec in New York City at Mount Sinai.
Maria reported having “great fun” presenting her work on next-generation implantable conductive hydrogels, which also showcased the fantastic work of Ali Mokhtarzade and neurotech colleagues at meLAB and the James Watt School of Engineering. Ángel presented his work with Thomas Richner at the Mayo Clinic on Fractional Reservoir Computing for neuromodulation. The Mayo Clinic is renowned for “pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in brain and berve care”, bringing together a world-class team of surgeons, data scientists, and researchers.
Both extended heartfelt thanks to the organisers for the invitation and the many other wonderful talks they enjoyed listening to while there.
Naturally, no such trip would have been complete without a visit to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – as evidenced above.
Katie Wilkie’s trip to France with FUSE CDT PhD students
In November, FUSE Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) researchers were lucky enough to travel to Lyon to visit four companies carrying out exciting work within the medical ultrasound industry. Among them was meLAB’s Katie Wilkie, who undertakes a PhD with Integrated Study in Ultrasonic Engineering co-supervised by industry partner Thales and University of Strathclyde.
Monika Maitles, Doctoral Training Hub Event Co-Ordinator, College of Science & Engineering, reported on the event’s packed schedule of highlights which took place over just a few days:
“Firstly, they met Frédéric Sottilini & Guillaume Bouchoux at Carthera who gave us insight into the timeline of their implant device that focuses on Glioblastoma and how they are using ultrasound to treat brain diseases. We met Thomas Charrel & Alice Ganeau at Veinsound who inspired us with the development of their technology to treat varicose veins using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound.
Day 2, we headed to EDAP Focal One France and met with Nicolas Guillen where we heard about and saw the manufacturing of their Focal One Robotic System where HIFU is used to treat Prostate Cancer and Endometriosis.
Lastly, we had Sophie Cambronero introducing us to Eye Tech Care’s EyeOP1 device which treats Glaucoma using a specialised HIFU probe to help prevent further deterioration of the patients eyesight.
We were very grateful to each company for giving us lab tours, letting us see the physical devices and even giving us demos of how they will work on patients. Hugely inspiring work being done in this City! Huge thank you goes to François Tranquart for introducing us to these very impressive companies. We are all leaving feeling very motivated about what we saw and heard.”
Katie found the trip a highly valuable and memorable opportunity to learn and network in first-class industrial settings rooted in academia. She even found some time for sightseeing in overcast but beautiful and historical Lyon.
Ángel at ANEIS 2025: a week linking neurotech to clinics (in stunning Ventotene)
Ángel Canal Alonso (PhD student at meLAB and CTO of medtech startup NEUROBITE) wrapped up an exciting and enriching research visit to the lab of Prof. Michele GIUGLIANO at Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia this June.
From 13–19 September, meLAB PhD student Angel Canal-Alonso joined the Applied Neurosciences EBRAINS-Italy School (ANEIS) on Ventotene Island, Lazio. The 2025 edition focused on “Linking Neurotechnology to Clinics,” and was organised by Maurizio Mattia, Michele Giugliano, and Stefano Ferraina—with EBRAINS-Italy‘s support—bringing early-career researchers together for an intensive, hands-on week.
The programme mixed morning projects with afternoon lectures from leading figures across theoretical, computational, systems and clinical neuroscience. Highlights included sessions by Stefano Fusi, Gustavo Deco, Mavi Sánchez-Vives, Peggy Series, Giancarlo La Camera, Alberto Priori, Lino Nobili, and others—covering everything from network dynamics to clinical neuromodulation.
Angel’s hands-on track ranged across three themes: (1) in vivo electrophysiology data extraction and analysis (human/NHP); (2) in vitro MEA data for population-level dynamics; and (3) modelling approaches to sleep–wake transitions. These complemented ANEIS’s broader skillset in data analysis, neuroinformatics, statistical methods for neural time series, and theory-to-clinic translation.
Beyond the science, the school deliberately built community. Angel worked closely with new collaborators—PIs and fellow PhD students—on mini-projects, shared datasets, and ideas for joint papers.
Why does this matter for meLAB? ANEIS sits at the interface of advanced modelling, computation and clinical application, aligning with our interests in closed-loop control and network-aware neuromodulation. EBRAINS-Italy’s mission—enabling neuroscience through shared data, models and analysis tools—adds practical pathways for reproducible, multi-site work. Angel returns with new workflows, code snippets, and collaborators to test them with.
A big thank-you to the organisers, lecturers, and the ANEIS cohort for the generous discussions—and to Ventotene for the memorable setting. We’re excited to build on these connections in the coming months and to share outcomes as they land.
Spotlight on PhD student Paria Kamkar – June 2025
Paria Kamkar (pictured above) is a current PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Glasgow having successfully completed an MEng in the same field in June 2025. Her research focuses on the design and fabrication of microfluidic platforms, with a particular emphasis on integrating tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) sensors for the detection of extracellular vesicles (EVs). These EVs are investigated as potential biomarkers for early-stage breast cancer, and her aim is to help improve the sensitivity and accessibility of cancer diagnostics through this interdisciplinary approach.
The project is supervised by Dr. Roghaeih Parvizi.
Along with colleague Dr Tahereh Azargoshasb (a Marie Curie ITN researcher based at meLAB), Paria recently attended a Summer School in Bordeaux on Innovative technologies and clinical applications in cancer research.This special trip was a chance to meet researchers from different backgrounds and take part in workshops focused on biomedical applications. It was also a wonderful opportunity to connect with other PhD students across Europe. While there, Paria and Tara visited several research labs where they were shown top-spec specialist equipment in use for example Quartz Crystal Micro Balance (QCMs).
Paria reported that “many of the other participants had research interests very close to ours, so it was great to share ideas and experiences with them.” Of the future, she says:
“Looking forward, I’m excited to expand this research through collaborative work in biomedical sensing and microfluidics. I’m passionate about developing innovative, low-cost diagnostic tools that can make a global impact in healthcare.”
Aarhus University, Denmark – August 2018
In today’s blog, I would like to share the experience of being a student at Aarhus University and living in Denmark for six months as part of the Ph.D. program. In August 2018, I was lucky enough to be given a chance to take part in a research exchange program and join the Integrated Circuit and Electronics (ICE) LAB. My advisor Dr. Hadi Heidari discussed the possibility of me joining them for three months prior to August at the ISCAS conference in Florence, Italy. When I heard about it, I wasn’t too convinced that it would be possible due to the visa process and my housing arrangements in Glasgow. Long story short, luckily, things went well and I had managed to arrange all of it. The moment when I realised I had a green light to go, it was exciting for me. This is because in my research group not a lot of people are working on circuits, and in ICE LAB almost everyone is circuit and system designer. It was a great opportunity for me to be part of the community that is experienced in circuit design. Moreover, as a student who holds a Tier4 visa in the UK, it was a huge chance for me to explore EU countries during weekends as usually, I would need to apply for a visa to do so. Little did I know, at the end of the six months I had hardly left Aarhus city itself, let alone going around Europe. Why? The following are reasons why I enjoyed myself a little too much in Aarhus, without any regrets.
Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia – 2 to 6 December 2019
On December 2nd-6th, three members of the meLAB who are currently working as part of the Horizon 2020 project Hybrid Enhanced Regenerative Medicine Systems (HERMES) attended the first annual consortium meeting at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genoa, Italy. Over the course of five days, each team presented their work from the first twelve months, and laid out their plans for future efforts. Vahid and Rupam, two of our post-doctoral researchers, attended all five days, including the Advisory Board meeting and Eve, a PhD student, attended four days of group presentations.