Neurons as a sensor: how to use neurons as a universal bio-digital sensor in biopharma, dermo-cosmetic & nutrition applications

Neurons are processing their inputs through firing or not firing, which can be equated to producing zeros and ones. Since every single organ in the body is innervated, the nervous system can essentially by seen as distributed network of bio-digital sensors. By connecting (and fluidically isolating) neurons to a target organ, be it other neurons in CNS applications or any organs in PNS applications, we can encode organ states (healthy, diseased, altered…) into digital signatures that in turn populate a Digital Library, creating a framework for fingerprinting and ranking effects of screened drug compounds based on the desired functional outcome.

In this effort running across multiple studies and indications, using NETRI’s DuaLink MEA, DuaLink Shift MEA and Trialink MEA compartmentalized chips in conjunction with Axion’s Biosystems electrophysiology platform Maestro, we innervated various targets organs “at a distance” (skin, peripheral nervous system, gut) and recorded their activity in healthy and altered states. Using dedicated NETRI’s UpLink software and purpose-made database DataLink, we were able to extract, process and analyze with statistical relevance the sensory neuron digital signatures for each state.

By defining digital signatures as a n-dimensional MEA-metric matrix of proportional ratios between a reference state (healthy) and a target state (altered) of multiple replicates, we were able to drastically diminish the impact of individual culture’s variability and show the quantification of drug candidate effects on a scale defined by reference compounds. More profoundly, this was done non-destructively on acute or chronic timescales, without the use of imagery or chemical assays.

The central notion emerging from this effort is the standardized digitization power that well calibrated fluidically-isolated neuronal cultures bring to organ functional analysis. From assessing the effects of compounds on a disease, a cream on a skin, a nutrient in the gut, or orienting the repositioning of a drug, using neurons-as-biodigital-sensors offer an impactful and agnostic platform solution in a wide variety of applications that extend far beyond neuroscience.

Speakers: Serge Roux and Hélène Gautier