Novela Information

Novela Inc. is a start-up created in 2013 as a spin-off the MEMS lab at the Centre for Integrated RF Engineering (CIRFE), the University of Waterloo, Canada. Since 2004, Novela researchers have been working on biomedical engineering and micro-fabrication research and engineering. The group were the pioneers in the University of Waterloo to work in the field of implantable medical electrodes design and fabrication. The team mainstream research is in the fields of portable medical devices, implantable medical devices, neuro-engineering, and flexible circuits. The team has been collaborating with several research groups in North America, Europe and Asia to improve the electrode technologies. Novela researchers developed new intra-cortical electrodes and electrode arrays designed for acute and chronic neural-interfacing applications. Live animal testing and benchmarking exhibited the superiority of our devices in comparison to the commercial equivalents. The implantable system comprising Flex intra-cortical electrodes with integrated neural-interfacing chips was awarded the MEMSCap best micro-system design award in 2012.