Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News
  • Published:

Mapping the mind: A new tool reveals uncharted territories in the brain

Nature Medicine volume 23, pages 144–146 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Buzsáki's vision is to apply this ribbon-like construction to the surface of the brain rather than fingertips. He and his team at the Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center have designed this so-called NeuroGrid tool to be as thin and pliant as plastic wrap while containing a high density of electrical components. That, he hopes, will help researchers and neurosurgeons to map and record the activity of the brain in new ways.

Conventionally, the electrical activity of an individual brain cell is often studied by piercing it with a sharp electrode. In animal research, arrays of sharp electrodes are used to map the activity of many cells in a brain region. But because this process damages the cells, in humans, it is typically done only in a surgical setting and in brain areas that will be removed during a procedure, for example, to treat epilepsy. As a workaround, doctors and researchers operating on patients use 'surface grids,' which monitor brain activity without piercing cells. However, surface grids provide recordings akin to the generalized electrical waves detected by an electroencephalogram; they do not record single-cell activity. The NeuroGrid, by contrast, is an array of extremely small, voltage-sensing electrodes placed on the brain surface, and it aims to capture the chatter of single neurons without causing any cellular damage.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Khodagholy, D. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 310–315 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Chang, E.F. Neuron 86, 68–78 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Buzsáki, G. Hippocampus 25, 1073–1188 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Girardeau, G. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 12, 1222–1223 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Colgin, L.L. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 17, 239–249 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Khodagholy, D. & Gelinas, J.N. et al. Sci. Adv. 2, e1601027 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kellis, S. et al. J. Neural Eng. 7, 056007 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Madeleine Johnson is a former neuroscientist and currently a reporter at GenomeWeb.com and freelance science writer based in Brooklyn, New York.,

    Madeleine Johnson

Authors
  1. Madeleine Johnson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Johnson, M. Mapping the mind: A new tool reveals uncharted territories in the brain. Nat Med 23, 144–146 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0217-144

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0217-144

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing