Title:

Studying Network Dynamics in Neuronal Assemblies: Towards the Future Integration of Brain & Machines

Speaker:

Dr. Michela Chiappalone

Affiliation:

Italian Institute of Technology (IIT)

When:

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Ford ES&T Building, Room L1205

Host:

Steve Potter
steve.potter@bme.gatech.edu

Abstract

Behaviors, from simple to most complex, require a two-way interaction with the environment and the contribution of different brain areas depending on the orchestrated activation of neuronal assemblies. Understanding how information is coded and how synaptic mechanisms are implemented in these networks is one of the major challenges of neuroscience. An optimal experimental system for studying the electrophysiological behavior of cell assemblies should allow for (i) simultaneous stimulation and recordings from many individual neurons (i.e. hundreds); (ii) long-term monitoring of neuronal structures, synaptic efficacy and synaptic distribution; (iii) capability to bi-directionally interact with an external environment. Such omni-potentiality is practically impossible to achieve by using the standard approaches of in vivo electrophysiology.

My research is devoted to the use of in vitro systems, constituted by hippocampal/cortical cultures coupled to Micro-Electrode Arrays (MEAs), to study and characterize the electrophysiological behavior of large neuronal assemblies with the aim at understanding how these ‘reduced’ networks develop, learn and modify the strength of their synapses. This is done either in open or in closed loop (i.e. by connecting the biological brain model to an artefact). In my talk, I will show you our results mainly based on the capability of a cortical network to change its spontaneous internal dynamics in response to specific pharmacological and/or electrical stimulation. The developed protocols for electrical stimulation have been also used in a closed loop system involving a neuronal culture and a small robot. Such an experimental framework is well suited for investigations on neural coding and in the Brain Machine Interface (BMI) field of research. Innovative tools for analyzing data coming from multichannel acquisitions will be also introduced to explain the obtained results.

In the course of the talk, I will also discuss the possibility to use a similar closed-loop experimental paradigm for developing a ‘brain-prosthesis’, aimed at restoring lost functions in different experimental models at increasing anatomical complexity. This is also the main objective of the recently funded EU project ‘Brain Bow’, which I am coordinating.

Biography

Professor Chiappalone's biography is not available at this time.