Neuron–Microchip Interface
by Patrick Tucker
Scientists foresee new possibilities in cell-based computing.
European researchers are several steps closer to fusing computer chips
with living mammalian brain matter and getting the two to communicate.
Scientists with the NACHIP project, funded under the European
Commission's Future and Emerging Technologies Commission, recently announced that they had
successfully fused mammalian neurons with a silicon chip and had created a "working
interface."
"Computers and brains both work electrically. However, their charge
carriers are different," states Peter Fromherz of Germany's Max Planck Institute for
Biochemistry.
The applications of the science are potentially far-reaching and include
helping scientists develop a "map" of the human brain—illustrating how
thoughts and emotions rise into consciousness—and enabling a complete understanding
of how memories are formed. The research could also lead to the development of new neural
prostheses (implants) to combat neurological disorders. Perhaps most significantly, the
breakthrough marks an essential step in the development of a computer with an
architecturally and structurally "human" brain, a key component in creating a
fully functional artificially intelligent computer system.
The researchers are careful to point out that such developments are
still years away. In the near term, the technology may be of use to drug-makers.
"Pharmaceutical companies could use the chip to test the effect of drugs on neurons,
to quickly discover promising avenues of research," says Stefano Vassanelli, a
molecular biologist with the University of Padua in Italy.
The brain's unique proteins glue the neuron–silicon chip together, providing the "link between the ionic channels of the
neurons and semiconductor material in a way that neural electrical signals could be passed
to the silicon chip," says Vassanelli.
The experimenters tested the device by stimulating the neurons and
recording which ones were being activated while tracking the signals coming from the
chips. The neurons can be stimulated through capacitors, which enables electrical signals
to be passed not just from chip to neuron, but from neuron to chip in a primitive,
electronic dialogue.
"The availability of involved integrated neuroelectronic systems
[nerves interfacing with microchips] will help to unravel the nature of information
processing in neuronal [nerve] networks and will give rise to new and fascinating
physical-biological-computational questions," Fromherz asserts, "Of course,
visionary dreams of bioelectronic neurocomputers and microelectronic neuroprosetheses are
unavoidable and exciting, but they should not obscure the numerous practical
problems."
Another potential avenue of research is the use of genes to communicate
with the neurons. According to Vassanelli, "Genes are where memory comes from, and
without them you have no memory or computation. We want to explore a way to use genes to
control the neuro-chip."
Sources: The Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18
D-82152 Martinsried, Germany. Web site www.biochem.mpg.de/home_en.html.
Information Society Technonolgies. Web site. www.cordis.lu/ist.
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