Researchers working on FORTE at the Centre for Electronics Frontiers (CEF) have made history by connecting biological and artificial neurons together and facilitating them to communicate over the internet.

In an article published in Scientific Reports Professor Themis Prodromakis and Dr Alex Serb, along with colleagues at the Biomedical Sciences and Padua Neuroscience Center, University of Padova and the Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich, created a hybrid neural network where biological and artificial neurons were able to communicate with each other in different parts of the world over the internet through a hub of artificial synapses made using memristors. This is the first time the three components have come together in a unified network.

Themis Prodromakis, Professor of Nanotechnology and Director of the Centre for Electronics Frontiers at the University of Southampton says "One of the biggest challenges in conducting research of this kind and at this level has been integrating such distinct cutting edge technologies and specialist expertise that are not typically found under one roof. By creating a virtual lab we have been able to achieve this."

Over 15 news outlets including; The Medical News and Russia’s AB News have picked up the report.

Click here to read the study; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-58831-9