Researchers from the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a human brain research technique to explore the connection between human brain structure and function. This technology uses graphene as a sensor, the thickness of which is equivalent to only 4 atoms, and is compatible with optical and electrical means for the first time. The research report was recently published in Nature News.
"This technology shows that we may have major breakthroughs in visualizing and quantifying brain neural network activity," said Togo Weber, director of the DARPA program.
According to a report by the Physicist Organization Network on October 22 (Beijing time), this new device uses graphene as a sensor and can conduct electricity, but its thickness is less than one nanometer and it is several hundred times thinner than current metal contacts. Such fine materials allow almost all light in most wavelength bands to pass, making optical and electrical means compatible with each other here. In addition, graphene is non-toxic to biological systems and is much more advanced than previous experimental materials.
Graphene won the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics and won the 2014 Chemistry Award for super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. At present, the technical pillar of brain function research is the monitoring and simulation of neuronal signal electronics, while the emerging optical technology uses photons for research, thus opening up a new path for the visualization of neural network structure and brain structure development. Electronic technologies and optical technologies are distinguished from each other and have complementary advantages. If they are used together, they may be conducive to high-resolution brain research. Prior to this study, the integration of these technologies was not easy because traditional metal electrodes were too thick, often larger than 500 nanometers, making it difficult to transmit light and thus incompatible with many optical technologies.
Dialyzing the anatomical structure and function of the brain has always been a goal pursued by the neuroscience community and is also a top priority of the Obama Administration's “Human Brain Project†research project. DARPA hopes that the next generation of neuroscience technology can reflect the relationship between neural network structure and function. Researchers hope to increase the performance of this new R&D tool so that they can simultaneously measure the neuronal function, dynamics, and behavior of any moving target.
Weber said: “Now, we have the opportunity to go straight to the point where we can observe, measure and simulate neural circuits to explore these connections and confirm the function of the brain circuit. This discovery can help us effectively understand and cure brain trauma and disease. "(Reporter Mao Yu)
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