Unhealthy Communication by Graham Robertson (Biomedical Engineering)

Neurological disorders can severely affect the sufferer’s quality of life and costs the global economy many billions of pounds every year. However, very little is known & regarding the fundamental causes of many of these disorders. We have designed novel microfluidic devices in which we grow neurons in order to better understand how neuronal function changes under disease conditions. The central microchannels allow synaptic communication between isolated neuronal networks making the platform useful for analysing how neuronal communication is altered in certain disorders. Additionally, this allows for the screening of drugs that could be used in novel therapeutics for neurological disorders.

Image: © 2013 Graham Robertson. Research by Graham Robertson from Biomedical Engineering in collaboration with Dr Trevor Bushell from the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences and Dr Michele Zagnoni from Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

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