eneumann@bbn.com (Eric Neumann) (04/05/91)
In article <1991Apr2.164740.28858@fcom.cc.utah.edu> strohsch@mines.utah.edu (David A Strohschein) writes: > I am trying to find information about growing nerve cells on integrated > circuit surfaces. The object is to grow the nerves on the ICs while > retaining the normal or near normal electrical and physiological functions of > the nerve tissue. I have done some research in the library under the topics of > tissue culture and biopolymers however, this seems to be a new or specialized > problem and most books do not address this subject. If there is enough response I will post > the information. Thanks in advance. Dr. McKay at MIT in collaboration with Mitch Eggers at Lincoln Lab have developed a system for growing neurons on silicon wafers containing a matrix of gold microelectrodes using poly-lysine (?) as the cellular substratum. They're able to simultaneously record from many neurons as well as stimulate specific ones in order to measure the total response. Dr. Eric Neumann System and Technologies Division BBN Laboratories Cambridge, MA
rowland@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Keith Rowland) (05/18/91)
In article <1991Apr2.164740.28858@fcom.cc.utah.edu> strohsch@mines.utah.edu (David A Strohschein) writes: > > I am trying to find information about growing nerve cells on integrated >circuit surfaces. The object is to grow the nerves on the ICs while >retaining the normal or near normal electrical and physiological functions of >the nerve tissue. While not actually growing neurons on ICs we do grow them on glass plates on which a grid of 64 electrodes has been photo-etched in an area of approx. 1mm^2. We have been very successful in preserving the electrical functions. As for the physiological, the cells form networks of synaptic connections that respond pharmacologically in a predictable manner but we doubt that it has the same physiology as the tissue. I'm involved in the data aquisition and therefore am no expert in the biology of these systems. Anyone interested can contact me via e-mail or by news if they think it's of interest to all. __ Keith E. Rowland rowland@cnns.unt.edu System Manager Center for Network Neuroscience University of North Texas PO Box 5218 Denton, Texas 76203 817/565-3896,3472 "Gee, I dunno Andy. Better ask Aunt B." -- Keith E. Rowland rowland@{sonne.}cnns.unt.edu System Manager Center for Network Neuroscience University of North Texas PO Box 5218 Denton, Texas 76203 817/565-3896,3472 "Gee, I dunno Andy. Better ask Aunt B."
arms@cs.UAlberta.CA (Bill Armstrong) (05/18/91)
rowland@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Keith Rowland) writes: >In article <1991Apr2.164740.28858@fcom.cc.utah.edu> strohsch@mines.utah.edu (David A Strohschein) writes: >> >> I am trying to find information about growing nerve cells on integrated >>circuit surfaces. The object is to grow the nerves on the ICs while >>retaining the normal or near normal electrical and physiological functions of >>the nerve tissue. > While not actually growing neurons on ICs we do grow them on glass plates >on which a grid of 64 electrodes has been photo-etched in an area of approx. >1mm^2. >__ >Keith E. Rowland rowland@cnns.unt.edu In our work on adaptive logic networks (ALN) we have come a long way in getting them to find simple rules in boolean data. If you could get sequences of bits representing axonal pulses in your collection of neurons, you could try to predict what causes what by taking a many samples of all signals BUT x over the past t seconds, and training an ALN to predict the current x. I suppose you have tried this with backpropagation networks, but we have found that ALNs are very good at finding simple rules for generalization. For example ALNs have learned (a very good approximation for) the rule for a multiplexer with 521-input signals, based on 8000 samples, an infinitesimal part of the whole space. So it might be worth while to try this out on a collection of neurons. Your discipline, about which I know virtually nothing, probably has very sophisticated ways of studying interaction of neurons, so maybe the suggestion is not useful. In any case, I'd appreciate your comments on the idea. Bill Armstrong P.S. The ALNs are on menaik.cs.ualberta.ca [129.128.4.241] in -- *************************************************** Prof. William W. Armstrong, Computing Science Dept. University of Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2H1 arms@cs.ualberta.ca Tel(403)492 2374 FAX 492 1071