Thesis Project Form

An estimated 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease. In Parkinson’s disease, dopamine-producing neurons in the mid-brain degenerate leading to the loss of the neurotransmitter dopamine. As a result, a person suffers from movement-related symptoms such as tremors at rest, rigidity of limbs and slowness of motion. There are some medications available to relieve the symptoms, but there is currently no cure for this disease.

This project deals with a possible treatment of Parkison's disease based on the use of implanted stem cells to substitute malfunctioning dopaminergic neurons. The aim of the work is to design, simulate, fabricate, and characterize an optical waveguide device that simulaneuosly acts as an optical stimulator (using laser light) and encapsulation for cells during implantation in the striatum.
The waveguide will be designed in order optimize light diffusion in order to stimulate as many cells as possible.

The student will be trained in:
- microfabrication
- optical simulation using COMSOL Multiphyisics software
- optical characterization using a class IIIB laser
- general experimental practice: planning, execution, and documentation of experiments and results