13 nicole neurons growing on silicon presentation

NEURONS GROWTH ON SILICONE, THE NEXT GENERATION OF

COMPUTER CHIPS

Nicole S. Rivera Espinal Major in Biology and student of RISE Program,

University of Puerto Rico, Cayey1

DESCRIPTION• Over the last years science has been walking with ways to

improve the lives of neurological patients. As a result, they had developed the possibility of growing neurons on silicone in order to fix the ones that have been damaged because of many diseases, including Alzheimer and epilepsy.

(Theodore et. al 2012)

IMPORTANT DATA ABOUT NEURONS • Cells that processes and transmits information through

electrical and chemical signals • The electrical parts happens in neurons itself and the

chemical at synapse • 100 billions of neurons in the human brain • Neurons comes in many shapes and sizes • Their function is to allow us to think and behave

http://www.appsychology.com/Book/Biological/neuroscience.htm

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/teaching-packets/brain-actions-cocaine-opiates-marijuana/section-i-introduction-to-brain/3-neuronal-structure

Structure of Neurons

HIPPOCAMPAL NEURONS

• Principal structure in the brain • Plays an important role in cognitive functions (memory, the capacity to learn

new information, speech, and reading comprehension) • This has been proved by the use of T-maze in rodents

C:\Users\rivera\Pictures\Hippocampal neurons\Hippocampus_small.gif

(Pioli et al. 2014)

WHAT IS THE MAIN PROBLEM?• There are some cognitive function diseases caused by

neurodegeneration in the hippocampus that are based on the continuous damage of structure or activity of neurons, including their death.

NEURODEGENERATIONhttp://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hippocampus.png

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-amnesia-gene/http://mns.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mashio/product.html

WHAT ARE THE SCIENTISTS PROPOSING?

Silicon neurons computer chip that can be connected to the human brain

tissue

Integrate it

Injured neurons

Computers and brains both work electrically.(USC News 2002)

NEURONS GROWING ON SILICON

What is Silicon?Natural chemical element commonly used in computers because of its electrical properties variations in a direct relationship with temperature.

What makes Silicon the perfect material?

This element is very similar in behavior to carbon at environmental temperature, silicone functions like insulating material for everything.The thermally grown silicon dioxide suppresses the transfer of electrons and the concomitant electrochemical processes that lead to a corrosion of silicon and to a damage of cells

Experiments (Indiveri et al. 2008)

(Voelker and Fromherz 2005)

=

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Stipulates that Silicon neurons emulate the electro-physiological behavior of real neurons

Controlling the source-drain current of a buried channel electrolyte-oxide-silicon, being able of transmitting signals currents in this material.

COMPUTER CHIP DESIGN Buoyant to impaired and better at a moderator of tasks implicating arrangement of recognition.

Researchers squeezed more than 16,000 electronic transistors and hundreds of capacitors onto a silicon chip just 1 millimeter square in size.

They used special proteins “Fibronectin” found in the cell to glue the neurons to the chip

http://new.coolclassroom.org/discoveries/view/microbe-size

http://www.jbc.org/content/282/22/16585/F12.expansion

COMPUTER CHIP DESIGN (CONT'D) They also provided the link between ionic channels of the neurons and semiconductor material in a way that neural electrical signals could be passed to the silicon chip

The chip has 18 dynamic neuron synapses, and it behaves just like a network of real biological neurons in the hippocampus

This device has a display of minuscule electrodes constructed to match the spatial layout of the hippocampus.

A neuron from a rat brain sprawls over a linear array of transistors. The cell's ionic current interacts with the electronic current in the silicon.

http://www.pageresource.com/clipart/medicine/page3.html

http://bme240.eng.uci.edu/students/07s/sliu/

(Arthur and Boahen 2011)

This research brings a new perspective of things that can be possible ideas of science fiction.

CONCLUSION

Advantages • Lost brain function can be

recreated by the chip • Opens the door to improve

the quality of life for many people

• Creates a link between the human brain and digital computing systems

Disadvantages • The possible rejection of the

body to the synthetic component

• The case for the unethical application of the technology

• Inherent risks to the operation

My alternative • Early developmental

human neurons fixed during the development of the organism

CITED REFERENCES • Andersen P, Morris R, Amaral D, Bliss T, O'Keefe J. 2006. The Hippocampus Book. OUP USA: Oxford Neuroscience

Series. Comparison of Rat and Monkey Hippocampal Formation. section 3.6.2. 96 p. • Arthur JV, Boahen K. 2011. Silicon-Neuron Design: A Dynamical Systems Approach. 58(5). Stanford, California (USA):

IEEE. 11 p. DOI: 10.1109/TCSI.2010.2089556 • Berger TW, Song D, Chan RHM, Marmarelis VZ, LaCoss J, Wills J, Hampson R.E, Deadwyler SA, Granacki JJ. 2012. A

Hippocampal Cognitive Prosthesis: Multi-Input, Multi-Output Nonlinear Modeling and VLSI Implementation. 20(2). [UNKNOW PLACE]: IEEE. 198–211. DOI: doi:10.1109/TNSRE.2012.2189133

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• Unal N, Akdogan I, Adiguzel E, Ozdemir B, Cevik A. 2003. Effect of penicillin-induced epilepsy seizure on the volume of hippocampus stratum pyramidalis in rat. 33(3). [UNKNOW PLACE]: Wiley-Liss, Inc. 210–217. DOI: 10.1002/nrc.10097

• Voelker M, Fromherz P. 2005. Signal Transmission from Individual Mammalian Nerve Cell to Field-Effect Transistor. 1(2). Germany (MU) :WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. 206-210. DOI:10.1002/smll.200400077

• Walker R. 2002. Secret Worlds: Brain. [UNKNOW PLACE]. DK Publishing, Inc. Neurons. p 96.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT •Dr. Eneida Díaz Department of Biology and RISE Program, University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, Ph.D •Dr. Elena González Department of English and RISE Program, University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, Ph.D •Dr. Robert Ross Department of Botany and RISE Program, University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, Ph.D