Self-organizing networks of brain cells have been created by researchers at Tel Aviv University using clustered nanotube dots.

The technique could allow the development of sophisticated biological sensors that use functioning brain cells, according to report at newscientisttech. This type of device would identify a compound - a deadly nerve agent or poison, for example - by measuring its effect on a functioning network of neurons.

A team led by Yael Hanein of Tel Aviv University in israel used 100-micrometre-wide bundles of nanotubes to coax rat neurons into forming regular patterns on a sheet of quartz.

The neurons cannot stick to the quartz surface but do bind to the nanotube dots, in clusters of about between 20 and 100. Once attached, these neuron bundles are just the right distance from one another to stretch out projections called axons and dendrites to make links with other clusters nearby.

The process makes it possible to create more uniform neural networks, Hanein says. In experiments they last longer than other artificial networks, surviving for up to 11 weeks. This could be crucial for building biosensors using the cells, she claims.

Hanein's work on self-organizing brain cells has been published in the Journal of Neural Engineering and in a paper published in Physica A. (photo Yael Hanein)