Bio-inspired Technologies

伦敦帝国理工学院生物医学工程研究所的仿生学小组的研究活动集中在提供基于视网膜、耳蜗、神经元、β细胞等生物行为模型的智能、生理半导体芯片。国际教育局目前的研究重点是生物启发技术领域，这是一个介于生物/生物化学、物理/工程和医学之间的交叉学科领域。我们设计与人体器官和系统相互作用的电子系统，以及：遵循生物系统基本原理设计的电子电路和设备。在这里，我们提出了一系列可行性研究，这些研究基于应用最先进的工程技术，为复杂的生理和医学问题提供解决方案，例如选择性神经刺激器或植入物。同样，我们正在基于复杂的生物系统和生化过程，如细胞信号机制，开发新的技术。这项投资将导致研究，将为几个令人兴奋的新想法提供原则证明；如果成功，将进行商业开发，并对医疗保健以及某些广泛使用的设备，如移动电话相机或敏感的化学探测器阵列产生重大影响。可行性账户将用于一套五个研究主题。第一个主题将探索将无脊椎动物光感受器--一系列生物放大器--的光传导过程转化为电子等价物的可行性。第二个主题冒险进入了一个全新的记忆阻器研究领域--被动记忆器件。其他三个主题评估了神经刺激和神经假体设计的新战略路径：结合光和电刺激以实现选择性，然后使用光合作用反应中心来传递神经元和肌肉的光敏感度，最后使用噪声来增强人类听觉路径的感觉。

The research activities of the Bionics group at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London have concentrated on providing intelligent, physiological semiconductor chips based on models of the biological behaviour of the retina, cochlea, neurons, beta-cells, etc. The current research focus at IBE is in the area of bio-inspired technologies, which is a cross-disciplinary field at the interface between biology/biochemistry, physics/engineering and medicine. We design electronic systems that interact with human organs and systems, as well as: electronic circuits and devices designed following the basic principles of biological systems. Here we propose a set of feasibility studies which are based on applying state of the art engineering technologies to provide solutions for intricate physiological and medical problems, such as selective neural stimulators or implants. Equally, we are deriving new technologies based on complex biological systems and biochemical processes, such as cell signalling mechanisms. This investment will lead to research which will provide proof of principle for several exciting new ideas; and if successful will be developed commercially and have a significant impact on healthcare as well as certain widespread devices such as mobile phone cameras, or sensitive chemical detector arrays. The Feasibility Account will be used for a suite of five research themes. The first theme will explore the feasibility of converting the phototransduction process in an invertebrate's photoreceptor - a cascade of biological amplifiers - into electronic equivalents. The second theme ventures into a completely new research field of memristors - passive memory devices. The other three themes assess new strategic paths in neural stimulation and neural prosthesis design: combined optical and electrical stimulation for achieving selectivity, then use of a photosynthetic reaction centre for imparting light sensitivity of neurons and muscles, and eventually the use of noise to enhance sensory perception in human auditory pathways.