Matthew Mcdonald Email & Phone Number

Mechelen, BE

Mechelen, BE

Leuven, Flemish Region, Belgium

Leuven, Flemish Region, Belgium

Louvain, Flemish Region, Belgium

• Screening of available technologies, characterization of hermetic sealing materials and exploration of novel electrode materials for the use in IMEC's neurotechnology projects.
• Fabrication and evaluation of hermetic barriers for scalable manufacturing of implantables.
• Fabrication of an active implantable device for peripheral nerve recordings.

Reutlingen Area, Germany

• Development of a commercial multi-well device with integrated microfluidics for long-term electrophysiology of cerebral organoids.
• Fabrication and characterization of nanoparticle optodes for oxygen-mapping of organ-on-a-chip systems.
• Electrochemical deposition on microelectrodes; analysis with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
• Training of Master’s and Doctoral students on microfabrication techniques.
• Project management using a GIST planning approach through multiple design-fabricate-test iterations.

Vancouver, Canada Area

• Testing and analysis of materials/components used in outdoor equipment for setting material specifications and assuring product quality; including durability assessment of thin film coatings in wet environments.
• Collaboration within designers, developers, and merchants to provide guidance in material selection.
• Management of laboratory equipment and processes, including standards development, 3rd party testing, budgeting/purchasing, and building custom test setups.
• Documentation of testing results, guidance manuals, and SOPs.

Hasselt, Belgium

• Design, fabrication, and characterization of in-vitro and in-vivo biosensor devices; employing three-dimensional nanocrystalline diamond electrodes for recordings of neural cells.
• Diamond coating and electrochemical analysis of implantable electrodes for urinary incontinence control; subsequent failure analysis of hermetically sealed devices using SEM.
• Experience in a broad range of microfabrication and thin-film coating technologies, including: PECVD, PVD, RIE, wet-etching, photolithography, and EBL.
• Materials characterization and analysis, including: SEM/EDX, AFM, FTIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and profilometry.
• Lab setup, testing automation, and data analysis/algorithm development with LabVIEW and Python.
• Successfully led research projects over a full life cycle (idea to prototype), trained other students, collaborated with technicians/post-docs, and disseminated results to conferences and journals.

Waterloo, ON

• Modelling of fluorescence data for in situ monitoring of monoclonal antibodies in cell cultures.
• Transferred experimental results into an existing small-scale production process.

Waterloo, ON

• Development and testing of a commercial system for mechanical testing of biological tissues.
• Writing engineering reports, designing marketing documents, ordering parts, and managing inventory.

Toronto, Canada Area

• Characterization of the interactions of enzymes with paper-like material surfaces to investigate possible precursor materials for disposable biomedical diagnostics.

Doctor Of Sciences, Bioengineering And Biomedical Engineering

• Thesis: “Study and properties of neural bi-directional interfaces, fabricated by cell engulfment of boron doped nanodiamond.

Bachelor Of Applied Science, Honours Nanotechnology Engineering

Activities and Societies: Varsity Ultimate Frisbee team, UW Triathlon Club • Thesis: “Graphene-based receptor-ligand-gated transistor.