3083 High-Throughput Neurotechnology

Sunday, February 20, 2011: 2:00 PM
146A (Washington Convention Center )
Mehmet Yanik , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Cambridge, MA
Title: “High-Throughput Neurotechnology”

Speaker: Mehmet Fatih Yanik, Assoc. Prof., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract:

     Neuroscience faces some of the greatest challenges and opportunities in the 21st century. The mammalian nervous system consists of billions of neurons with thousands of different types, each connected through intricate patterns. Repair of this extraordinarily complex circuit due to malfunctions or damage is currently impossible, and we do not even understand how this complexity develops and evolves in the first place. Sophisticated high-throughput methods and technological advancements are necessary to decipher the dramatic molecular and anatomical complexity and heterogeneity of the nervous system. We will discuss development of machines that can drastically accelerate both the scientific and the therapeutic studies on nervous systems all the way from small organisms to mammalian systems.