Growing Trans-plants

Climbing plants often weave themselves around nearby structures for support. They can even be trained to bloom in specific shapes. This greenery is much smaller than the average garden – networks of rat neurons coloured with green fluorescence, each 10,000-times thinner than a clematis stem. Pictured from above, the neurons grow along tiny beds of man-made pillars called nanowires; each bed is traced out with yellow dots. The nanowires are different distances apart in each bed, testing how far the cells are willing to grow out to connect with neighbouring neurons. These artificial networks are thriving with nervous impulses – raising hopes for the development of neuroprosthetic scaffolds, grown to plug holes in the human nervous system.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Vini Gautam and colleagues
• Eccles Institute of Neuroscience, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra, Australia
• Image reproduction permitted by the American Chemical Society
• Published in Nano Letters, April 2017