Advanced approaches for investigating cells and neurons

Technologies for the fabrication of devices and systems at micro- and nano-scales continue to advance and diversify due to the rising demands for miniaturisation, cost reduction, functional integration and performance enhancement. This session will provide a broad overview of bio-systems technologies as an enablThe need of ever more innovative approaches for advanced diagnostics and in-vitro cell monitoring, also at single cell level, is generating a dramatic development of the technologies, boosting the interest of the research toward most powerful tools for analyzing biological samples in various fields of biomedicine, and neuroscience. In this keynote session two main achievements in this field will be presented and discussed. The first is a smart solution, based on tomographic phase microscopy (TPM) of samples at lab-on-chip scale for 3D tumor cell imaging and focussed on the new paradigm of liquid biopsy. The second deals with the implementation micro- and nanoelectronic devices emulating fundamental properties of neurons, such as action potential firing and synaptic plasticity: in this perspective a new concept of brain-machine interfacing may emerge where brain and silicon neurons are physically connected.ing technology for new product development in diagnostics and in the life sciences. This keynote session is part of the workshop, co-organized by FBK, the Polytechnic of Turin, and IMM-CNR of Lecce targeted to strengthen collaboration, sharing new ideas and knowledge transfer from research to market in the field of biosensors for cancer cells detection, organ on a chip, and neurosciences. The objective is twofold: a) to share the progress in the field and b) to identify the technological orientation and future challenges offered by the connection between innovative materials and micro/nanotechnologies for life science. The involvement of representatives of key research disciplines will offer a podium to enable community building and networking, the sharing of progress in both technology and application development, and the identification of application case examples.