“Brain” on a Chip—Toward a Precision Neuroelectronic Interfaces

Deciphering the brain's functional connectome requires new experimental tools that are sensitive enough to quantify the strength of individual synaptic connections yet also highly scalable to simultaneously measure and control a large number of mammalian neurons with single-cell resolution. In this presentation, I will describe our efforts to combine the advances in nanoscience and semiconductor technology to develop new electronic interfaces that can perform high-fidelity recording and stimulation of thousands of networked mammalian neurons in parallel. The same interface can also be used for multi-parametric functional imaging of other living cells and tissues, enabling fully electronic high-throughput live-cell assays for phenotypic screening. This technology should benefit a broad range of functional interrogations of cell networks and may lead to improved brain-machine interfaces.