Melbourne, Australia. A cutting-edge lab where 800.000 human neurons grow on a silicon chip and play Pong. Or at least they used to: researchers at Cortical Labs have just shown that these artificial neurons can do much more than just play games. For example, they respond to anti-epileptic drugs by changing their behavior and improving performance. carbamazepine, in particular, has transformed these test-tube brain cells into true neurological “apprentices.” It is the first time in history that cultured neurons react to a drug therapy.
How Cortical Labs Revolutionized Neurological Research
The Australian team led by Brett Kagan, Chief Scientific Officer of the company, has published in the magazine Biology Communications the results of an experiment that redefines the boundaries between biology and technology. The researchers used neurons derived from human pluripotent stem cells, culturing them for 21 days until they differentiated into cells representative of those found in epilepsy.
These neurons were then subjected to a model of glutamatergic hyperactivation, simulating the conditions that occur during epileptic seizures. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter which, when unbalanced, can cause the neuronal hyperexcitation typical of epilepsy.
The efficacy of carbamazepine on artificial neurons
The turning point came when researchers tested three different antiepileptic drugs: phenytoin, perampanel, and carbamazepine. Only the latter, administered at a dose of 200 µM, produced extraordinary results. It not only reduced neuronal hyperactivation (as all three drugs did), but also significantly improved the neurons' ability to play Pong.
La carbamazepine is an antiepileptic drug used since 1965, particularly effective against partial seizures. It acts mainly on sodium channels, reducing the repetitive high-frequency activation of action potentials. But seeing this mechanism in action on neurons grown in the laboratory represents an unprecedented breakthrough.
Cortical Labs’ CL1 Platform Transforms Drug Testing
The technology behind this breakthrough is the CL1 platform, which hosts the system DishBrain. As I pointed out in this article, it is a biocomputer that combines living human neurons with traditional hardware. The neurons grow on a silicon substrate equipped with electrodes that allow bidirectional communication between biological tissue and the processor.
This system allows us to observe in real time how drugs affect neuronal behavior, eliminating the need to use animal models. Brad Watmuff, head of biology at Cortical Labs, emphasizes how this approach opens the way to “more meaningful measures of therapeutic success.”
The Future of Personalized Medicine
The significance of this discovery goes beyond a single experiment. The ability to test drugs on real, but artificially grown, human neural networks could dramatically accelerate the development of new therapies. Each CL1 system can be customized to represent different neurological diseases, from dementia to drug-resistant epilepsy.
The research also involved scientists from theUniversity of Cambridge and the British startup bit.bio, demonstrating how international collaboration is pushing the boundaries of applied neuroscience.
Cortical Labs' SBI (Synthetic Biological Intelligence) system is still simpler than the human brain, but it is a fundamental step towards more effective and personalized therapies. As he concludes kagan:
“This is just the beginning. The ability to observe how living neurons respond to stimulation and drug treatment in real time opens up entirely new ways to develop, test, and personalize therapies.”
The boundary between natural and artificial continues to blur, opening up possibilities that until yesterday were only in our imagination.
