Biomimetic quantum-dot nanodonuts for membrane voltage imaging

我们的大脑是不可思议的器官。我们的大脑由大约800亿个神经元组成，它们需要相互交流才能使我们的大脑工作。有趣的是，它们通过用电来做到这一点——令人难以置信的是，赋予神经元形状的膜可以产生与闪电大小相同的电场！然而，尽管信号非常大，但很难想象信号是如何在单个神经元内产生的，这些信号是如何传播到其他神经元并在大网络中传播的。这是因为这种闪电大小的信号被限制在几个原子的厚度内，而将传感器定位在合适的空间是非常棘手的。在这个项目中，我们将从神经元膜中的天然蛋白质中获得灵感，开发一种方法，将传感器无缝集成到需要“看到”电信号的地方，并发出我们可以看到的信息。通过利用计算机行业的技术，我们将调整用于制造计算机芯片、电视和其他先进电子设备的方法，以创造我们的生物启发电压传感器。这些传感器将解锁可视化神经元如何在不同生物体、复杂网络等中相互交流的能力。例如，其他细胞，如精子，是电活跃的，这些受生物启发的传感器将使我们能够看到这些电信号为什么以及如何影响生育等领域。最后，通过从大自然中汲取灵感，并将其与纳米制造的力量相结合，这个项目将开启一种革命性的新策略，研究我们的细胞是如何利用电进行通信的，以及这些通信在受伤、疾病或仅仅是衰老的情况下是如何被打乱的。

Our brains are incredible organs. There are around 80 billion neurons that make up our brain, and they need to talk with each other to make our brains work. Interestingly, they do this by using electricity - incredibly, the membrane that gives a neuron its shape can create an electric field that has the same magnitude as a lightning bolt! However, despite the incredibly large signal, it can be extremely difficult to visualise how signals are generated within a single neuron, how these signals propagate to other neurons and spread around large networks. This is because this big lightning bolt-sized signal is confined to the thickness of just a handful of atoms, and positioning a sensor just in the right space is incredibly tricky. In this project, we will take inspiration from natural proteins that sit in the membranes of neurons to develop a method to seamlessly integrate a sensor right where it needs to go to 'see' the electrical signals, and send out a message about it that we can see visually. By harnessing techniques from the computer industry, we will adapt methods that are used to make computer chips, TVs, and other advanced electrical devices to create our bioinspired voltage sensors.These sensors will unlock the ability to visualise how neurons communicate with each other in diverse organisms, complex networks and more. For instance, other cells, such as sperm, are electrically active, and these bioinspired sensors will enable us to see why, and how, these electrical signals impact areas such as fertility. In the end, by taking inspiration from nature and combining it with the power of nanofabrication, this project will unlock a revolutionary new strategy for seeing how our cells use electricity to communicate, and how these communications may get scrambled in the case of injury, disease, or simply old age.