Researchers from the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, the National Institutes of Health and the University of California in Irvine say that they have made a step towards creating electronic microchips that use living brain cells, the Wall Street Journal reports. They have learned a technique of putting embryonic brain cells in chosen areas on silicon or glass chips and then inducing the cells to grow connections to each other that will roughly copy the circuitry that neurons form in the brain. By studying how biological neurons function and connect with each other on the chips, they hope to learn how to make better networks of the artificial neurons that electronics and computer developers are currently trying to engineer. The experiments involve taking a chip of silicon or glass and coating it with a single layer of molecules of a chemical, DETA, that promotes the growth of neurons. A microsopic mask is then laid on the chip that shields both the spots where the scientists want the neurons to settle and the channels they want the neurons to follow to make connections. An ultra-violet laser removes the unshielded DETA and the cleared sections are filled with a layer of a type of molecules that discourages neuron growth. Embryonic rat neurons are effectively sprinkled on the chip with the hope that those landing on the DETA spots will grow. The neurons then send out connecting wires called dendrites and axons following the paths of the DETA. The neurons can be kept alive for a few months for study and experimentation, the researchers say. A possible application that is being researched at the moment includes development of a sensor composed of nerve cells on a chip that would sound the alarm when it detected a nerve poison, such as nerve gas used in chemical warfare.
