The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Yale University has appointed Columbia University Electrical Engineering alumna Claudia Cea as an Assistant Professor, starting July 2025. Cea, who completed her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Columbia in 2023 (advised by Prof. Dion Khodagholy), has made significant contributions to the field of bioelectronics and neural engineering, and her new role at Yale marks a pivotal step in her promising academic career.
Cea's academic journey began at the Università di Pisa, where she earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2014. Her passion for bioengineering led her to San Diego State University, where she pursued an M.Sc. in Bioengineering. During her time there, Claudia focused her research on developing novel origami-based neural probes for epidural and intradural recording, as well as neurotransmitter detection. Her work demonstrated a remarkable ability to integrate innovative design with practical applications in neuroscience.
Following her master's degree, Claudia embarked on her Ph.D. journey at Columbia University, where she made groundbreaking advancements in the field of bioelectronics. Her research focused on creating innovative biocompatible neural interfaces, which allowed for recordings at the scale of individual neurons, and enabled real-time detection of epileptic discharges in vivo. One of her most significant achievements was the development of fully-flexible, standalone neuroelectronic devices based on organic electrochemical transistors. The key advantage of this device is that each component - from the back end to the front end, including the powering and data transmission unit - is soft, conformable, and biocompatible. This feature allowed for a more seamless integration of the device with the tissue, minimizing surgical risks and tissue inflammation.
Currently, Claudia is a postdoctoral fellow at MIT, where she is advancing her research on flexible devices to pioneer the recording of electrophysiological signals in vivo from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Her work aims to address the unique challenges of the hostile GI environment by developing innovative surface and implantable arrays designed specifically for the enteric nervous system.
Cea's appointment as an Assistant Professor at Yale University is a testament to her dedication and innovation in the field of bioelectronics. Drawing on her expertise in material science, electronics for bio-interfaces, and medicine, her lab will develop minimally invasive bioelectronic systems. These systems will explore fundamental human biology questions and provide diagnostics and treatments for disorders, with a specific focus on developing conformable bioelectronics to study the complex interplay of the body-brain axis. Her work is advancing the frontiers of neural engineering, and her contributions are sure to inspire the next generation of researchers.
