Design of a bioelectronics hybrid system in real time and in closed loop

Abstract

Hynets, for Hybrid (living-artificial) Networks, are an efficient and adaptable experimental support to explore the dynamics and the adaptation process of biological systems. We present in this paper an innovative platform performing a realtime closed-loop between a cultured network (e.g. neurons) and an artificial processing (e.g. software processing or a robotic interface). The system gathers bioware, hardware, and software components and ensures the closed-loop data processing in less than 50 μs. We describe also a methodology that may help to standardize the description of some experiments. This method is associated to a full custom Graphical User Interface. We detail here the system choices, components, and performances.