Fully-Integrated Patch-Clamp Systems for High-Throughput, Automated, Whole-Cell Recording Systems

The patch clamp technique (Neher, 1992) is the central method in modern electrophysiology. It allows the recording of single ion-channel currents, or alternatively currents from entire small cells (whole-cell recording). In traditional patch-clamping, a glass pipette is gently applied to the cell membrane as an "electrode" through control by a skilled operator; a slow and labor intensive process. Recent developments in planar patch-clamp technology has now made it possible to envision high-throughput patch-clamp systems where recordings can be made from 384 or more cells in parallel. A limiting factor in these systems is the size and cost of the amplifiers. By miniaturizing the entire patch-clamp system in silicon as an integrated circuit, both these problem can be resolved. We have designed, fabricated and tested the first fully integrated patch-clamp amplifier system using silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technology. This project is a collaboration with Prof. Eugenio Culurciello.

Pujitha Weerakoon, Fred Sigworth.

Collabarators and Contributors

Eugenio Culurciello, Warner Instruments, Peter Kindlmann, Joseph Santos-sacchi, Youshan Yang, Yangyang Yan, Victor Pantani, Henrik Abildgaard

Third-Generation Multi-Channel Integrated Patch-Clamp System in Silicon-on-Sapphire Technology
- Design by Pujitha Weerakoon (2009)

Die Micrograph of Circuit

Jclamp Interface to the Circuit