Engineering calcium signaling of astrocytes for neural–molecular computing logic gates

Barros, Michael Taynnan and Doan, Phuong and Kandhavelu, Meenakshisundaram and Jennings, Brendan and Balasubramaniam, Sasitharan (2021) Engineering calcium signaling of astrocytes for neural–molecular computing logic gates. Scientific Reports, 11 (1). ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

This paper proposes the use of astrocytes to realize Boolean logic gates, through manipulation of the threshold of Ca 2 + ion flows between the cells based on the input signals. Through wet-lab experiments that engineer the astrocytes cells with pcDNA3.1-hGPR17 genes as well as chemical compounds, we show that both AND and OR gates can be implemented by controlling Ca 2 + signals that flow through the population. A reinforced learning platform is also presented in the paper to optimize the Ca 2 + activated level and time slot of input signals Tb into the gate. This design platform caters for any size and connectivity of the cell population, by taking into consideration the delay and noise produced from the signalling between the cells. To validate the effectiveness of the reinforced learning platform, a Ca 2 + signalling simulator was used to simulate the signalling between the astrocyte cells. The results from the simulation show that an optimum value for both the Ca 2 + activated level and time slot of input signals Tb is required to achieve up to 90% accuracy for both the AND and OR gates. Our method can be used as the basis for future Neural–Molecular Computing chips, constructed from engineered astrocyte cells, which can form the basis for a new generation of brain implants.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding Information: We are grateful to thank Prof. Dr Evi Kostenis, Institute for Pharmaceutical Biology, the University of Bonn for the kind gift of the pcDNA3.1-hGPR17 plasmid. M. T. Barros is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 839553. S. Balasubramaniam and B. Jennings are funded via CONNECT from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund, under Grant Number 13/RC/2077. S. Balasubramaniam is also funded in part by FutureNeuro from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant Number 16/RC/3948 and co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund and by FutureNeuro industry partners. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1000
Departments or Groups:
Depositing User:	Admin SSL
Date Deposited:	19 Oct 2022 23:08
Last Modified:	14 Aug 2023 02:15
URI:	http://repository-testing.wit.ie/id/eprint/4259

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