Development and characterization of Neuron - Chip Interfaces

• Extracellular recording from dissociated neuronal cultures, from retinas and from hippocampal slices. Recordings performed at very high spatial (7.4 µm) and temporal resolution (6-40 kHz).
• Electrical stimulation of single neurons and of neural tissue (retina).
• Characterization of contact properties of neural tissue interfaced to substrate-integrated planar electrodes

Techniques, methods, equipment

• High-density Multi-Electrode-Arrays (60, 256 or 16000 recording sites)(Infineon / MultiChannelSystem MCS)
• Planar Multi-Capacitor-Stimulation Arrays (Infineon)
• Stimulus Generator (STG 2004, MCS)
• Microscope with Laser Dissection Unit (iMIC, Till Photonics)
• Potentiostat (Parstat 2263, Princeton Applied Research)
• Laminar Flow-Box
• Vibratome for the preparation of brain slices (Leica VT 1200S)
•  Incubators (Thermo Fischer) including roller culture

Methods and Techniques

• Analysis of neuronal signals (Spike Sorting: Offlinesorter/Plexon, Matlab, Mathematica, NeurochipSorter/C++)
• Hardware control via LabView (National Instruments)
• Long-term neuronal cultures
• Ex vivo retinas
• Cortical and hippocampal organotypic slices

Services

• Characterization of substrate-integrated Multi-Electrode-Arrays
• Characterization of neuronal Cultures and Tissues (Retina)