Brain on a chip

Filed in archive Research on June 17, 2006

For the first time, scientists have coupled living brain tissue to a chip like the ones that run computers.

The technique, developed at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry,
involves culturing razor-thin slices of the hippocampus region of the brain on semiconductor chips. These chips were developed in collaboration with Infineon Technologies AG and excel in their density of sensory transistors: 16384 transistors on an area of one square millimeter record the neural activity in the brain.

With the resulting novel hybrid system of neural tissue and semiconductor, the scientists take a great step forward towards neurochip prosthetics and neurocomputation. This makes the "brain-chip" a novel test system for brain and drug research. (photo Max-Planck Institute for biochemistry)