Tag: brain-cell logic circuits
Wiring Neurons To Computer-Circuit Components
by andreas on Oct.28, 2008, under brain research
The New Scientist recently published an article on engineers who have interfaced neurons with computer circuits. The brain is a fascinating web of dense neural connections but the brain can be unreliable. As the article points out: “one neuron can successfully provoke a signal in another only 40% of the time.”
So what if scientists could improve the brain’s neural network using silicon-based technology? That has, so far, been an elusive goal that, once achieved, cuold be used to treat a variety of diseases associated with damaged nervous systems.
Engineers working with neurons in the lab have built reliable digital logic gates that perform like those inside electronics.
The starting point is a glass plate coated with cell-repellent material. The desired circuit pattern is scratched into this coating and then coated with a cell-friendly adhesive. Unable to gain purchase on most of the plate, the cells are forced to grow in the scratched areas.
The scratched paths are thin enough to force the neurons to grow along them in one direction only, forming straight wire-like connections around the circuit.
Using this method the researchers built a device that acts like an AND logic gate, producing an output only when it receives two inputs.
