Stéphanie P. Lacour

Stéphanie P. Lacour (born 1975) is a French neurotechnologist and full professor holding the Foundation Bertarelli Chair in Neuroprosthetic Technology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). Since January 2025, she is Vice President for Support to Strategic Initiatives at EPFL.

Lacour is a pioneer in the field of stretchable electronics and directs a laboratory at EPFL which specializes in the development of Soft BioElectronic Interfaces to enable seamless integration of neuroprosthetic devices into human tissues. Lacour is also a co-founding member and director of the Center for Neuroprosthetics at the EPFL Satellite Campus in Geneva, Switzerland.

Early life and education Lacour was born around 1975 and grew up in France. She completed her M.Sc. in Integrated Electronic Devices at the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) in Lyon, France, in 1998. After completing her master's degree, Lacour remained at INSA and conducted her graduate studies in Electrical Engineering from 1998 to 2001. In 2001, Lacour moved to the United States to work under the mentorship of Dr. Sigurd Wagner as postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University. During her time at Princeton, Lacour made significant advancements in developing stretchable electronics that could be implemented in biological systems more easily than typical electronic hardware. She found that inducing micrometer long cracks in the gold made the stripes more stretchable, while inducing buckles in the gold made the stripes have lower resistance. The incredible degree of malleability and preserved electrical continuity that these thin gold films exhibit poised them to be essential in the future construction of 3D electronic circuits. Once these substrates relax, the gold creates surface waves which are repeatedly stretchable and can serve as interconnects for skin-like electronic circuits. This tool will enable a better understanding of the biophysical changes during and resulting from injury to determine how neuronal dysfunction manifests in TBI. Since injured axons can be assisted in their regeneration through mechanical guidance, Lacour sought to design an implantable device to mechanically guide axon repair. These 3D electrode channel devices fixed to polymer substrates not only provide an innovative tool for in vivo guided axon regeneration but also set the stage for in vivo electrode implants that can communicate with multiple groups of nerve fibers, one day possibly enabling effective communication between a prosthetic and the human body. Instead of using rigid, inorganic materials, like silicon, Lacour tested the viability of using pulsed lasers to create diamond-like carbon microstructures on polydimethylsiloxane. By embedding thin, gold microelectrodes in a polymer that can be rolled and flexed, Lacour and her team were able to create improved interfaces between the device and neural tissue. Merging this tool with commercial transducer electronics will enable the production of sensory e-skins. At EPFL, Lacour currently leads the Laboratory for Soft Bioelectronics Interfaces where she explores how to design novel, soft, skin-like circuits that will integrate into long term bi-directional neural implants and wearable prosthetic sensor skins. Outside of EPFL, Lacour is a member of the Materials Research Society as well as a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Using soft, flexible electronic circuits in vivo In 2010, Lacour was awarded a European Research Council Grant to support her initiative, ESKIN aimed at designing and improving current electronic systems to increase their stretchability to make them compatible with biological tissues while maintaining electrical functionality. Shortly after, Lacour was invited to give a TED Gribi, S., du Bois de Dunilac, S., Ghezzi, D. & Stephanie P. Lacour. A microfabricated nerve-on-a-chip platform for rapid assessment of neural conduction in explanted peripheral nerve fibers. Nat Commun 9, 4403 (2018). N. Vachicouras; C. M. Tringides; P. B. Campiche; S. P. Lacour : Engineering reversible elasticity in ductile and brittle thin films supported by a plastic foil; Extreme Mechanics Letters. 2017. DOI : 10.1016/j.eml.2017.05.005. H. O. Michaud, J. Teixidor and S. P. Lacour, "Soft flexion sensors integrating stretchable metal conductors on a silicone substrate for smart glove applications," 2015 28th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), Estoril, 2015, pp. 760–763. Gerratt, A.P., Michaud, H.O. and Lacour, S.P. (2015), Elastomeric Electronic Skin for Prosthetic Tactile Sensation. Adv. Funct. Mater., 25: 2287–2295. A. Guex; N. Vachicouras; A. E. Hight; M. C. Brown; D. J. Lee and Stephanie Lacour. Conducting polymer electrodes for auditory brainstem implants; Journal of Materials Chemistry B. 2015. DOI : 10.1039/c5tb00099h. I. R. Minev; P. Musienko; A. Hirsch; Q. Barraud; N. Wenger.., Stephanie P. Lacour: Biomaterials. Electronic dura mater for long-term multimodal neural interfaces; Science. 2015. DOI : 10.1126/science.1260318. Lacour, S.: Concurrent recordings of bladder afferents from multiple nerves using a microfabricated PDMS microchannel electrode array; E. Delivopoulos, D. Chew, I.R. Minev, J.W. Fawcett, S.P. Lacour; Lab on Chip, 2012, Lacour, S.: A regenerative microchannel neural interface for recording from and stimulating peripheral axons in vivo; J.J. FitzGerald, N. Lago, S. Benmerah, J. Serra, C.P. Watling, R.E. Cameron, E. Tarte, S.P. Lacour, S.B McMahon and J.W. Fawcett; Journal of Neural Engineering, 2012, vol. 9, 016010. Lacour, S.: Silicone substrate with in situ relief for stretchable thin-film transistors; I.M. Graz, D.P.J. Cotton, A. Robinson, S.P. Lacour; Applied Physics Letters, 2011, vol. 98, 124101. Lacour, S.: Micro-channel electrode arrays: a novel type of regenerative peripheral nerve interface (Journal Cover); S.P. Lacour, J.J. FitzGerald, N. Lago, E. Tarte, S. McMahon, J.W. Fawcett; IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, special issue on Neural interfaces to the Peripheral Nervous System, 2009, vol. 17, no. 5, p. 454 – 460. Lacour, S.: Stretchable interconnects for elastic electronic surfaces; S.P. Lacour, J. Jones, S. Wagner, T. Li, Z. Suo; Proceedings of the IEEE on Flexible Electronics Technology, 2005, vol. 93, no. 8, p. 1459 – 1467. Lacour, S.: Stretchable gold conductors on elastomeric substrates; S. Périchon Lacour, S. Wagner, Z. Huang, Z. Suo Applied Physics Letters, 2003, vol. 82, no.15, p. 2404 – 2406.