A chip that mimics neurons, firing up the memory

Dr. Theodore W. Berger is working on a computer chip that will replace living neurons with silicon ones, to repair the hippocampus, were memories are formed and the area affected with amnesia. To begin building the brain prosthetic, he and his team created mathematical models of neurons in a rat hippocampus(similar to the human hippocampus), and devised circuits that mimicked the neural activities. The way they mimicked the circuitry of the neurons is that they would take a rat hippocampus, slice it transversely, and observe how the neurons are connected. They would then create models from these slices by generating all possible input patters that the neurons could encounter and then recording the electrical activity of the neurons as they receive and reprocess the signals. So far, the circuits can only take the place of 50 to 100 brain cells, but chips that can replace 10,000 neurons have been tested in simulations. In addition, other researchers are working on neuroprosthetic chips that can enhance the senses, like translating an external stimulus like sound into an electrical impulse delivered to the brain, or chips implanted into the brain to operate a robotic arm. I found this interesting because so much about the brain is unknown and Dr. Berger is taking steps forward to learn how the brain is connected to create chips that could help people with brain deficiencies like memory loss be able to regain some function.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/technology/what-s-next-a-chip-that-mimics-neurons-firing-up-the-memory.html?pagewanted=3&src=pm