The human body is flexible, dynamic and soft. So why aren’t our prosthetics and implants? In her talk, Stéphanie Lacour describes the next generation of tissue-like implants that she and her team are developing at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Their goal is that these soft and flexible implants will enable victims of debilitating accidents to walk, hear, move and live normally again.

Accidents happen, but biotechnology expert Stephanie Lacour is working to make them less debilitating. Her research cultivates soft and flexible prosthetics and biological implants which can seamlessly integrate into a person’s body and revive the function of damaged limbs and neurons. “The implants of today are very rigid and very stiff,” Lacour said. “This causes all sorts of problems when we leave these devices in the body over time. The question we’re asking is, would soft implants integrate better with the host?” Her research at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne focuses on the creation, evaluation and refinement of dynamic new materials which mimic the suppleness and elasticity of neurons, skin and other tissues.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx