This project is a collaborative effort between an electrical engineer and a neuroscientist, to develop a new sensor capable of an order of magnitude improvement in our ability to study living human brain tissue and how it works. The ultimate goal is the development of a chip, .3 cm by .3 cm, containing 16,000 independent electrodes capable of independent recording from brain cells. Another part of the research is the development of techniques to keep brain slices alive and functional in contact with the sensor, and to design a sensor which does not deteriorate in that environment. Tests will be done on brain slices already available as a byproduct of surgery to correct epilepsy; sensor data will be analyzed to see how patterns vary between normal tissue and tissue causing the epilepsy, in order to yield insight into normal and abnormal functioning of the brain.
