Clinical laboratory IT systems used to map neuronal circuitry

The large amount of data processing that takes place within the human brain on a second by second basis has been mapped using clinical laboratory IT systems capable of matching its pace.

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies were looking at the circuitry that connects hundreds of visual neurons known as retinal ganglion cells with the photoreceptors within the eye.

This is a multi-layered process: first the light enters the eye and hits one of the rods or cones on the individual's retina, then this is converted into electricity and sent to a second layer of nerve cells.

From there, signals are relayed to ganglion cells in around 20 different types, with a total of 125 million light-sensitive nerve cells in the average eye.

Using clinical laboratory IT systems capable of a similar level of processing, the researchers made more than ten million recordings per second of these signals being sent.

"We think these data will allow us to more deeply understand neuronal computations in the visual system and ultimately may help us construct better retinal implants," says Dr E J Chichilnisky, associate professor at the systems neurobiology laboratories.

Other researchers at the institute are looking into the possibility of using the common cold to defeat cancer by switching back on normal cell death processes that are deactivated in tumours.