Berlin 2015 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 50: Biotechnology and bioengineering
BP 50.4: Talk
Thursday, March 19, 2015, 18:15–18:30, H 1058
Highly controllable synthetic neuronal circuits: Poly-L-lysine patterned semiconductor microtube substrates — •Jann Harberts1, Aune Koitmäe1, Gabriele Loers2, Cornelius Bausch1, Daniel Diedrich1, David Sonnenberg1, Christian Heyn1, Wolfgang Hansen1, and Robert H. Blick1 — 1CHYN & INF, University of Hamburg, Germany — 2ZMNH, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
Detailed understanding of the human brain is a central field of research. Due to high complexity of neuron interaction, the experimental set-up has to be reduced to a manageable amount of neurons with predefined axon growth.
It has been shown that microtubes can influence the direction of axon growth. The preparation is based on lattice mismatched layers. The arrangement of the tubes is defined by photolithography. Etching of the sacrificial material reduces the strain between the layers and creates tubes.
In order to produce controllable neuronal circuits we print poly-L-lysine (PLL), which supports cell adhesion, in front of the tube notches. The challenge is to find the right printer settings for PLL. We determined suitable parameters to print with PLL. The droplets we use reach a diameter of roughly 25µm. The advantage of this method is the flexibilty of pattering. It serves a fast way to adapt new patterns to different layouts, where the minimum definable drop spacing is 5µm. Printing droplets of PLL enhances the yield of the axonguiding through the tubes and creates a highly controlled neural network.