Artificial neurons to cure chronic disease

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Valeria Rivadeneyra. 11/27/2020.


This image shows the silicon chip and how small it is compared to a coin. (University of Bath)


Neurons are an essential part of our nervous systems and bodies. Imitating a neuron is a difficult task; however, thanks to science, it has become a reality.

A neuron or a nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that develops different processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals. It is essential for the functionality of the nervous system.

Scientists from the University of Bath have created a first-of-its-kind artificial neuron on a silicon chip that behaves like a real biological neuron. The discovery was published on Dec. 3, 2019, in Nature Communications, introducing a technology that seeks to cure chronic diseases.

Researchers used large-scale electrophysiological recording data to understand the activity of neurons so that they could successfully model their behavior on a silicon chip. Incredibly, the silicon neurons can mimic the activity of individual ion channels on neurons, and so far, they’ve created silicon mimics of respiratory and hippocampal neurons.

The artificial neurons receive electrical signals from healthy cells and relay them to neurons in other muscles and organs in a person’s body. It sounds easy, but on the contrary, creating artificial neurons was a challenging task because it was difficult to predict how neurons would respond. “Until now neurons have been like black boxes, but we have managed to open the black box and peer inside. Our work is paradigm-changing because it provides a robust method to reproduce the electrical properties of real neurons in minute detail,” physicist Alain Nogaret from the University of Bath said.

These artificial neurons are ideal for use in medical implants and other bioelectric devices. “Our neurons only need 140 nanoWatts of power. That’s a billionth the power requirement of a microprocessor, which other attempts to make synthetic neurons have used,” explained Nogaret. This discovery opens up the chance to cure conditions where neurons are not working properly or have died, and thus is extremely beneficial to those with chronic diseases. For example, these artificial neurons can be used to replace damaged neurons in spinal cord injuries or dysfunctional neurons in the brain that fail to send the correct signals to the heart in cases of heart failure.

This study is an exciting development that opens up many opportunities in the biomedical field. This includes opportunities for smarter medical devices that allow for personalized treatments over a range of different diseases and disabilities.

In fact artificial neurons could theoretically be integrated into biological systems and allow scientists to replace our damaged nerve cell. Being able to use the device to restore function to paralyse patients or heal brain damage, would be an exceptional advancement in medicine.

While the potential for treating neurological disorders is incredibly exciting, artificial neurons may even supplement our mental abilities by adding memory storage or offer faster processing in our brain in the foreseeable future.

For example, in heart failure, loss of coupling in the brain and nervous system results in incorrect signaling to the heart, leading to heart malfunction. “We’re developing smart pacemakers that won’t just stimulate the heart to pump at a steady rate but use these neurons to respond in real-time to demands placed on the heart - which is what happens naturally in a healthy heart,” Nogaret said.

Although it seemed impossible a few years back, this great discovery has helped many people around the world overcome diseases and disabilities.

Cover Photo: (ComputerHoy)


Valeria Rivadeneyra
Valeria is a sophomore in Peru. She loves STEM-related topics, so she plans to study industrial engineering in the future. In her free time, she likes watching series on Netflix and talking with her friends about anything.