ROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Using electronic structures 500 times smaller than the width of a human hair, six Brown University professors plan to explore the function of the human brain under a $4.25-million grant from the U.S. Defense Department.
The team of scientists from several disciplines hopes to develop electronic circuits many times smaller than the microelectronics used in personal computers. Their work in nanotechnology may be able to tell scientists more about how the brain works and may someday allow computer makers to supercharge electronic structures with human capabilities.
The grant is unusual because it pairs the life sciences with the physical sciences, said Arto Nurmikko, professor of electrical engineering and physics and principal investigator of the research program. A third discipline within the research is information science, the study of the processing of information.
"We want to have the man-made and the nature-made structures communicate," Nurmikko said. "Is there a benefit? Is it possible to endow a man-made structure with some new capabilities which we don't have and might become increasingly important in the future?"
The group's proposal is to create a tiny device that would emit light to stimulate brain cells and record light from brain cells, analogous to a camera.
The research unites professors who bring various perspectives to the research: James Anderson,
professor of cognitive and linguistic science; Barry Connors, professor of neuroscience; John
Donoghue, professor of neuroscience and director of Brown's Brain Science Progam; Benjamin
Kimia, associate professor of engineering; and Jingming Xu, professor of engineering and
physics. The proposal originated fro
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Contact: Janet Kerlin
janet_kerlin@brown.edu
401-863-2476
Brown University
23-Aug-2000