Infineon Builds Chip to Read Brain Cell Signals

Reuters 02/11/03

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OCFFA?type=scienceNews&storyID=2203905

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Researchers at Infineon Technologies AG in
Germany have developed new semiconductor technology that will allow
scientists to read electrical signals in living nerve cells, the
company said on Tuesday.

Being able to read and record the signals, with the aid of computers,
will help scientists better understand how the brain works and could
eventually lead to treatments for neurological diseases, like
Alzheimer's, said Roland Thewes, senior director in corporate
research at Munich-based Infineon.

"For example, you could put slices from brain nerve cells on the
chip, apply drugs and see how the nerve signals" and cells react to a
particular drug, he said in an interview.

Infineon researchers worked with scientists at the Max Planck
Institute, located outside Munich, on the new biosensor chip, dubbed
the "Neuro-Chip."

In a paper being presented on Tuesday at the International Solid-
State Circuits Conference, Thewes and colleagues detail how they
successfully recorded electrical signals in neurons from the brains
of snails.

Neurons are the specialized cells that make up the nervous system in
living organisms and communicate with each other through electrical
pulses.

The Neuro-Chip, about the size of a fingernail, has 16,000 sensors
that monitor electrical pulses in cells submerged in electrolyte
nutrient fluid that coats the semiconductor and keeps the neurons
alive, Thewes said.

Amplifiers embedded in the circuitry enable each sensor to detect and
process the low voltage signals throughout the different cell layers.
The data can then be transmitted to a computer and eventually
transformed into a color picture for analysis.

Currently, researchers use microscopic needles to measure the
electrical activity inside, which shortens the life of the cell,
preventing study over a period of time and without the accuracy of
the Neuro-Chip, Thewes said.