Beneficiary 3

SMArt Neural Interfaces and Advanced neurotechnology

Brief Description of the Organization: 

SMANIA S.r.l is a start-up company born in November 2012 which operates in the field of neurotechnology. SMANIA has been officially recognized as a spin-off company of SSSA. Its products are the result of the research activity of the “Invasive Neural Interface” group of SSSA. The company is fully committed to the design, development and characterization of smart polymer-based microelectrodes for the nervous system. The main mission is providing advanced neural interfaces for breakthrough research activities and for pre-clinical and clinical applications.

Role in the project: 

Electrode active site masking, engineering of the deposition/functionalization process and its inclusion in the standard industrial pipeline for neural interfaces production, exploitation of the product innovations achieved in the project course.

Team qualification in the field of proposal: 

The SMANIA team is composed of passionate researchers and entrepreneurs with a strong experience in micro and nano-fabrication. SMANIA products combine innovative materials and innovative design enhancing electrical and mechanical performance during in vivo applications. SMANIA products were successfully tested in vivo in rat and monkey models.

Most Relevant Publications: 
  1. A. Cutrone et al. Development of a self-opening neural interface. J Med Dev. 7(2): 020938 (2013)
  2. A. Cutrone et al. On modeling of a self-opening peripheral neural interface: a feasibility study. Med Eng Phys. 33(10): 1254 (2011)
  3. S. Bossi et al. An implantable microactuated intrafascicular electrode for peripheral nerves. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 56(11): 2701 (2009)
  4. S. Bossi et al. Shape memory alloy microactuation of tf-LIFEs: preliminary results. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 54(6): 1115 (2007)

People

Silvia Bossi, PhD, received her degree in 2004 in mechanical engineering from University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy. In 2008 she received her Ph.D. degree on Biorobotics at IMT, Lucca and at the BioRobotics Institute of SSSA in Pisa, Italy, where she focused on the development of a new generation of neural invasive interfaces. During her PhD, she was a visiting student at the IBMT, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, St. Ingbert, Germany, where she focused on microfabrication techniques of smart and flexible neural interfaces. She was a Post Doc fellow at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna till 2010 leading the activities of the “invasive neural interface” group of Prof. Micera. In 2011 she received a Fulbright-BEST fellow at Santa Clara University where she studied technical entrepreneurship for high tech products. In 2012 she co-founded a start up company, SMANIA, focused on the development of smart neural interfaces for neuroscientific research. She is currently a researcher at ENEA at the robotic department, UTTEI-ROB, Roma, Italy. She performs tutoring activities for Master Theses and PhD students from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.

Annarita Cutrone, M.Eng., is a Post-Doc research Assistant of Biorobotics at The BioRobotics Institute, SSSA. Her main research interests are the design, mechanical analysis and microfabrication of innovative neural interfaces for peripheral and central nervous system. The study and development of a self–opening neural interface (SELINE) has been part of her PhD activity, under the tutorship of Dr. Bossi. She is co-founder of SMANIA S.r.l.

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