Objective Cellular studies in neuroscience are hampered by the fact that in vitro cultures of primary neurons are complex, variable and heterogeneous, making studies on cultured neurons time consuming, labour intensive and not scalable. Especially for single cell studies on synaptic transmission and cellular trafficking, this is a major limitation. Both in academia and industry, mitotic cells are commonly used as a proxy for neurons (e.g. PC12 cells). However, while being less variable and better scalable, such cells model neurons only to a limited extent. These cells make no functional contacts (synapses) and do not have the same polarized organization that neurons have, which limits the validity for studies on synaptic transmission and cellular trafficking. Most commonly prescribed drugs for brain disorders target synapses. Yet, drug screening, lead finding/optimization and safety studies build either on cells that make no synapses or on labor-intensive low-throughput assays. Hence, new, standardized, scalable assays using real (synaptic) neurons, will provide a substantial step forward both for academia and industry.This application aims to develop a nano-electrode chip with an electrode array to stimulate, record and image many single neurons with high-resolution, for a period up to several weeks. This approach provides imaging data at single synapse and single organelle resolution and synaptic transmission data at high-throughput. Together, this will not only facilitate and standardize cellular assays using real neurons, but also upscale throughput 100 fold. In addition to the chip itself, we also see market potential for the method (growing/recording neurons on chips) and for a fee-for-service company that offers high throughput compound screening on synaptic neurons. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiology Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-PoC-2014 - ERC Proof of Concept Grant Call for proposal ERC-2014-PoC See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant Host institution STICHTING AMSTERDAM UMC Net EU contribution € 135 617,12 Address DE BOELELAAN 1117 1081 HV Amsterdam Netherlands See on map Region West-Nederland Noord-Holland Groot-Amsterdam Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 135 617,12 Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all STICHTING AMSTERDAM UMC Netherlands Net EU contribution € 135 617,12 Address DE BOELELAAN 1117 1081 HV Amsterdam See on map Region West-Nederland Noord-Holland Groot-Amsterdam Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 135 617,12 STICHTING VU Participation ended Netherlands Net EU contribution € 13 857,88 Address DE BOELELAAN 1105 1081 HV Amsterdam See on map Region West-Nederland Noord-Holland Groot-Amsterdam Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 13 857,88