The Pine Lab

Introduction

        We are interested in learning, memory, and synaptic plasticity in cultured neural networks.  Professor Jerry Pine and his collaborators have developed a number of new technologies for studying neural systems. Examples include an x-ray microscope for living cells, multi-electrode cell culture chambers, fiber-optic photodiode arrays and high-speed CCD cameras for imaging of neural activity, and silicon probes for long-term interfacing of neural tissue with external electronics.  

        Currently, in collaboration with Prof. Yu-Chong Tai of Caltech's Electrical Engineering department, we are developing a "neurochip."  The neurochip is a MEMS device that will support long-term growth of cultured neural networks (embryonic rat hippocampal cells), enabling simultaneous recording and selective stimulation of networked neurons .  It will provide an unprecedented ability to monitor and influence the synaptic activity of a small network of neurons, and to discover the effects of neural activity on synaptic plasticity. 

        Another angle of attack involves the use of a multi-electrode array (MEA) to study the properties of dissociated, relatively large-scale cultures of cortical neurons.  With these cortical neuron-MEA cultures, the influence of electrical stimulation and the resulting network activity on the formation, maintenance and modification of connections can be examined and elucidated.