Hari Prasad Sreekrishnapurath Variyam

Flash talk \ Manfred Eigen lecture theatre

Understanding cortical microcircuits and their dynamics is a central goal in cellular neuroscience. Dissociated cortical cultures exhibit a wide range of dynamical repertoires and provide a rich model system for exploring these processes (1). Here, we introduce an experimental setup for directly interfacing with optogenetically modified cell cultures: HD-M.A.N.T.I.S. (High-Density Multielectrode-Array-based Neural Targeting via Illuminated Stimuli). This system combines an HD-OLED display for light stimulation with a commercial CMOS microelectrode array (MEA) for electrical recordings, enabling high-throughput stimulation and data collection with approximately 11 μm resolution on both the input and output sides. A major advantage of this setup is its versatility and streamlined design. The entire platform can be assembled for under €1000 using readily sourced components and a straightforward, easily extensible code base. To validate its performance, we present a series of key characterization tests. The system integrates seamlessly with existing commercial MEA ecosystems, providing precise stimulus delivery. As a benchmark of its temporal accuracy and data-acquisition fidelity, we compute high-resolution spike-triggered averages (2) to infer receptive fields with fine spatial detail.