Optogenetics in Silicon: A Neural Processor for Predicting Optically Active Neural Networks.

Junwen Luo,Patrick Degenaar,Konstantin Nikolic,Xiaohan Sun,Na Dong,Benjamin D Evans,Alex Yakovlev,Peter Andras

doi:10.1109/tbcas.2016.2571339

Abstract

We present a reconfigurable neural processor for real-time simulation and prediction of opto-neural behaviour. We combined a detailed Hodgkin-Huxley CA3 neuron integrated with a four-state Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) model into reconfigurable silicon hardware. Our architecture consists of a Field Programmable Gated Array (FPGA) with a custom-built computing data-path, a separate data management system and a memory approach based router. Advancements over previous work include the incorporation of short and long-term calcium and light-dependent ion channels in reconfigurable hardware. Also, the developed processor is computationally efficient, requiring only 0.03 ms processing time per sub-frame for a single neuron and 9.7 ms for a fully connected network of 500 neurons with a given FPGA frequency of 56.7 MHz. It can therefore be utilized for exploration of closed loop processing and tuning of biologically realistic optogenetic circuitry.

Highlights

O PTOGENETICS involves a genetic modification of cells to make them sensitive to light by expressing light-gated cation channels such as Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) [1] or anion channels in their cell membranes [2]
We have developed an Field Programmable Gated Array (FPGA)-based highly biologically plausible processor for real-time simulation of optogenetic neural networks
The FPGA simulations indicate that the developed silicon ChR2-HH neuron model behaves to its biological counterpart, on which the software model is based

Summary

Introduction

O PTOGENETICS involves a genetic modification of cells to make them sensitive to light by expressing light-gated cation channels such as Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) [1] or anion channels in their cell membranes [2].

Results

Discussion

Conclusion