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Noureddine Tayebi
Electrical Engineering
Bio-X
Graduate Student Fellowships 2009/2010
Profs. Nicholas Melosh (Materials Science & Engineering) and
Ricardo Dolmestch (Neurobiology)
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) cause language and social impairments in children. Gene mutations can cause ASDs by altering signaling pathways of Ca2+ ions in neurons implicated with ASDs. To detect such alterations, the “patch-clamp” technique, which allows for high-resolution current measurements in ion channels, is used. However, low throughput and the destructive nature of the technique prevent observing communications between neurons and long experiment longevity. To mitigate these problems, Noureddine is helping to develop novel chip-based patch-clamp arrays where “nanoposts” are nondestructively fused into neuron membranes. This allows the study of long-term genetic-mutation effects and communication abnormalities between neurons. |
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