Luca Berdondini was born in 1974 in Locarno, Switzerland. He is a tenured Senior Researcher and Principal Investigator at the Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa, Italy, where he leads the Microtechnology for Neuroelectronics research unit, known as the IIT-NetS3 laboratory.
He received an MSc in Microengineering from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 1999. His master’s thesis was carried out at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech, USA) under the supervision of Prof. J. Pine. Following an initial professional experience in robotics in Switzerland, he began his doctoral research in bioelectrochemical MEMS at the Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Laboratory (SAMLAB) of the Institute of Microtechnology, Université de Neuchâtel, under the supervision of Prof. M. Koudelka-Hep and Prof. N. F. de Rooij. He received his PhD in 2003 for work on nano- and microfabricated interfaces and a novel CMOS-based microelectrode-array concept for large-scale, high-resolution electrophysiology, based on active-pixel-sensor multielectrode arrays (APS-MEAs).
At IIT, Berdondini leads a multidisciplinary team advancing neurotechnology and neuroelectronics through the integration of neuroscience, microengineering, biophysics and computational research. The laboratory develops CMOS-based neuroelectronic technologies in which high-density microelectrode arrays are integrated with low-noise, low-power on-chip circuitry for neural signal acquisition, processing and stimulation. CMOS–MEMS post-processing and microstructuring are used to transform CMOS dies into miniaturized, three-dimensional neural interfaces with tailored mechanical, optical and electrical functionalities.
A central objective is to develop scalable active neural interfaces for recording and modulating neuronal activity across spatial scales, from cellular networks in vitro to distributed brain circuits in vivo. These technologies advance fundamental and translational neuroscience by enabling high-resolution studies of neural dynamics in healthy and disease conditions, helping to understand how the brain processes information, investigate disease mechanisms and identify potential biomarkers. They also provide the technological basis and know-how for the development of brain–computer interfaces, neuroprosthetic systems and other clinical neurotechnologies.
The laboratory’s research has been supported by European, Italian and regional funding agencies, as well as by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the BRAIN Initiative, alongside collaborations with industry.
Luca Berdondini is among the pioneers of CMOS-based multielectrode arrays for electrophysiology, co-founder of 3Brain GmbH (now 3Brain AG, Wädenswil, Switzerland) and of Corticale Srl (Genova, Italy).