Combined transcriptomic and electrophysiological spatiotemporal profiling of neural circuits with a high-density multi-electrode array chip

Studying cellular networks such as neural circuits on a single cell level is essential in understanding complex disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases. Since the dawn of next-generation sequencing technologies and the power of stem cell engineering, it is now feasible to reveal the transcriptomic profile of thousands of cells from patients with poorly understood conditions. On the other hand, neural circuits, even in (simplified) cultured conditions, demonstrate convoluted and ultrafast communications. High-density electrode arrays and extensive data processing are being used to identify disease phenotypes from these in vitro circuits. Yet, a combination of transcriptomics and electrophysiology on the single cell level has not been achieved to date. Imec's high-density microelectrode array (HD-MEA) platform is a powerful instrument to study cellular networks at single cell resolution. With more than 16k electrodes and an electrode pitch of 15um, the nanochip enables to study cellular processes at unprecedented level. It features several modalities such as electrical stimulation, electroporation, electrophysiological recording, and impedance spectroscopy to study a variety of cell types and assays. This system will be used to develop a completely new type of integrative single cell analysis method based on electroporation and multiplexed barcoding.