The human brain is the most complicated object known to humankind, with neuronal cells being the building blocks of this fascinating construction. Understanding and replicating the operational principles of individual neurons and their circuits is a large research field that also covers bio-mimicking of the biological neurons with artificial ones. Conventional neuromimetic systems based on planar rigid materials had limited success in mimicking flexible neurons.
This talk focuses on introducing novel strategies to create and understand intelligent systems based on artificially designed electromechanically active membranes. We refer to these activities as “membranotronics”. The main focus of the talk will be presenting the first demonstration of a membranotronics system consisting of a planar free-standing poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) membrane with 3D shaped hole(s) possessing nonlinear ion transport properties. Additionally, functionalizing of the hole with polymeric brushes was performed to demonstrate the ability of this type of system to respond to the environmental change. These results provide new system to bio-mimic behavior of biological neuronal cell membrane with in a flexible manner.
Maryam's Ph.D. thesis is about "Ion transport through elastomeric membranes". She studied Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in Iran at the University of Isfahan. Afterward she started her PhD at the IFW Dresden and worked on the Membranotronics topic. Later, she joined the Fraunhofer Institute EMFT for Microsystem and Sensor Technology in Munich.
The human brain is the most complicated object known to humankind, with neuronal cells being the building blocks of this fascinating construction. Understanding and replicating the operational principles of individual neurons and their circuits is a large research field that also covers bio-mimicking of the biological neurons with artificial ones. Conventional neuromimetic systems based on planar rigid materials had limited success in mimicking flexible neurons.
This talk focuses on introducing novel strategies to create and understand intelligent systems based on artificially designed electromechanically active membranes. We refer to these activities as “membranotronics”. The main focus of the talk will be presenting the first demonstration of a membranotronics system consisting of a planar free-standing poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) membrane with 3D shaped hole(s) possessing nonlinear ion transport properties. Additionally, functionalizing of the hole with polymeric brushes was performed to demonstrate the ability of this type of system to respond to the environmental change. These results provide new system to bio-mimic behavior of biological neuronal cell membrane with in a flexible manner.
Maryam's Ph.D. thesis is about "Ion transport through elastomeric membranes". She studied Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in Iran at the University of Isfahan. Afterward she started her PhD at the IFW Dresden and worked on the Membranotronics topic. Later, she joined the Fraunhofer Institute EMFT for Microsystem and Sensor Technology in Munich.
