1© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

INTRODUCTION TO

The Centre for

Neuro-Electronic Research Flanders

Bart De Moor

2© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

THE HUMAN BRAIN

• 1012 cells

• 25.000 connections / cell !

• 1016 connections !

• how do they talk to each other

• link with behavior

3© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

CURRENT STRATEGIES

• molecular biol• genetics• cell biol• dev biol• small animal models• omics approaches• comput. biol.

• single electron transistors• μ/n-scale solid state devices• high density arrays• electronic recording• implantable wireless devices• real time data encoding• nanoparticles

biological questions brain-computer interface

NERF

• electrophysiology

• life imaging• image

processing• clinical

research

4© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

EMPOWERMENT OF NERF

5© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

KEY ATTRIBUTES VIB

Molecular mechanisms and systems of living organisms

• non-profit organization

• partnerschip with 4 Flemish universities

• established by the Fl Gov’t in 1995

• international environment (> 60 nat)

• 2012 research budget 90 M€

• staff: 1250

6© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

KEY ATTRIBUTES IMEC

• non-profit organization

• independent

• established by the Fl Gov’t in 1984

• worldwide reach (> 600 partners)

• 2012 research budget 300 M€

• staff: 1870

7© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

KEY ATTRIBUTES KU LEUVEN

• prominent research oriented university

• established in 1425

• 6.000 researchers (120 countries)

• Ba – Ma: 35.000 students

• Doctoral schools: 3.500 Ph.D. -students

• univ hospital: Strong Med School

8© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF: SCIENTIFIC AMBITION

• develop technologies to measure single cell activity single circuit activity coordinated activity

• interface solid state μ/n-scale devices with biological entities

• multidisciplinary approaches signal measurement live imaging behavior

Qn map of neuronal circuit formation / function in vivo

9© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF: STRATEGIC PLAN

• content focus neuronal network in vivo

• projects vs centre physical integration /

multidisciplinary teams

• dedicated research groups 100% NERF

• critical mass lower limit: 50 p / 5 small groups

• long term: 10 years

10© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF: STRATEGIC PLAN

• NERF-core: 50 p = 5-6 M€ / Y

• structural funding 50%

• commitment 3 partners 650 K€ / Y for 10 years

• extra leverage Flemish government: 1.75 M€ / Y

• support for NERF-core expertise imec – VIB – KU Leuven infrastructure imec – VIB – KU Leuven

Financial plan

11© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF: LOCATION – INTEGRATION: NEEDS

• 800 m² net space (imec)

• small animalarium on site

• access to imec-research infrastructure clean room design – processing – IC testing - ...

• access to VIB-research infrastructure core / service facilities VIB technology platform

• access to infrastructure partner univs

• integration with LS and µe community

NERF: TIMING ACTION PLAN

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

launch concept

benchmark

partners

concept approval

SAB content fine tuning

PI3 hired

PI4 hired

midterm review

start secondcycle

PI2 hired

PI1 hired

kick off event

SAB

govt support

PI5 hired

13© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

HIGH LEVEL RECRUITMENT

• Emre Yaksi (HMS – Rachel Wilson)

• Vincent Bonin (HMS – Clay Reid)

• Fabian Kloosterman (MIT – Mat Willson)

• Bruce McNaughton (Univ Lethbridge, Canada)

• Francesco Battaglia (Swammerdam Inst, NL)

• Staf Borghs (Sr Fellow, imec)

NERF GOUP LEADERS 2012

Emre Yaksi lab Neuronal circuits Processing of sensory information NERF PI

Vincent Bonin lab Neuronal circuits Visual processing in mammalian brain NERF PI

Fabian Kloosterman lab Memory circuits High density electrode arrays NERF PI

NERF VISITING SCIENTISTS 2012

Bruce McNaughton Neuronal ensemble recording technologies Episodic and spatial memory NERF visiting scientist

Francesco Battaglia Neuronal circuits Mechanisms of learning & memory NERF visiting scientist

16© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF COORDINATOR 2012

Staf Borghs

• Senior Fellow @ imec

• facilitating start up of NERF

• untill 2013

17© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF STRUCTURE: ORGANIGRAM

NERF Board

NERF Director

PI4 PI5Visitin

g scienti

stPI3PI2PI1

NERF suppor

t

SAB

MC

18© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF STRUCTURE

• VIB Jo Bury, managing director Rudy Dekeyser, managing director

• imec Ludo Deferm, VP Bus Dev Jo De Boeck, Senior VP Systems and

Tech

• KU Leuven Peter Marynen, vice rector research Paul Van Dun, director LRD

NERF board

19© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF STRUCTURE

• no legal entity

• centre of excellence

• empowered by VIB, imec, K.U.Leuven

• located at imec campus

• strategic basic research

• scientific independance

• SAB

20© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF: SAB

• Christof Koch – CalTech (Pasadena, US)

• Karel Svoboda – Jamelia Farm (Ashburn, US)

• Stephen DeWeerth – GeorgiaTech (At, US)

• Gilles Laurent – MPI (Frankfurt, DE)

• Patrick Wolf – Duke Univ (Durham, US)

• Liqun Luo – Stanford Univ (Stanford, US)

21© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF STRUCTURESAB

22© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

HIGH LEVEL INFRASTRUCTURE

23© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

MODEL SYSTEMS

24© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

NERF ENVIRONMENT

• 200 mm Si Wafer clean room• chip design (probes, sensors, actuators,

MEMS, ...)• architectural optimization• IC processing, testing

• Sub 32 nm CMOS technology

• 300 mm Si Wafer technology

• wireless communication

• electronic workshop

• mechanical workshop

imec core facilities

25© 2011 imec, K.U.Leuven and VIB

INTRODUCTION TO

The Centre for

Neuro-Electronic Research Flanders

Bart De Moor