LLNL’ Brain Chip
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is best known for developing advanced technologies for national security (i.e. nuclear weapons). But actually, it supports a broad range of projects in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and precision engineering. This piece describes Livermore’s brain-on-a-chip development—“the iCHIP (in-vitro Chip-Based Human Investigational Platform) project aims to create ex vivo platforms that mimic the workings of different organs and body processes. In the current study, the researchers were able to grow multiple types of brain cells together on top of an electrode array. This array, being in intimate proximity to the cells, can be used to read the cells’ electrical activity and therefore help understand how the cells are interacting with each other.” MORE
Image Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory