MEA Meeting 2016 | 10th International Meeting on Substrate-Integrated Electrode Arrays

Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) were introduced in 1972 by Thomas et al. (and 1977 independently by Guenter Gross) as a “convenient non-destructive method for maintaining electrical contact with an individual culture, at a large number of points, over periods of days or weeks.” Since then, a broad spectrum of applications employing MEA systems has been established. Nowadays, MEAs are mature tools routinely used in electrophysiology.

This year, we celebrate the 10^th international conference on substrate-integrated MEAs. From the start in 1998 at the NMI, the biannual MEA meeting served as a forum for developers, suppliers and new as well as experienced users of MEA systems. The 10^th anniversary of the MEA Meeting is a good opportunity to identify the underlying driving forces and benefits that this technology bears for science and industry.

Common to all meetings is an active and interacting scientific community, exploring and validating developments of microelectrode arrays and their applications in neuroscience, cardiovascular research and neurotechnology. Along the years, this community has expanded and reached an average of 250 participants from around the globe, estimated from the last three meetings. A hard core of scientists from Genova and Freiburg, Enschede and Lausanne, North Texas and Reutlingen attended every meeting. The more recent meetings were supported, in addition, by groups from Basel, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, from Tokyo and Daejeon. A special input to the meeting is always provided by participants from industry – showcasing pharmaceutical drug discovery, safety pharmacology or neurotechnological applications.

The topics presented and discussed at MEA Meetings underscore the progress in technological developments of electrodes and instrumentation and the answers obtained for certain biotechnological and neuroscientific applications. On the other hand, also a variety of new questions and opportunities emerge from each meeting.

A topic that has drawn considerable attention at every meeting was the recording of neuronal network activity and signal analysis. It might therefore well be that the generic picture of an electrogenic cell on a recording electrode serves as the blue-print of many other applications, such as in vitro disease models (a topic presented at every meeting), stem-cell applications (emerging in 2010, with a maximal prevalence in 2016) or systems neuroscience and neuron-glia interactions.

While the interface between cells and tissues, respectively, and electrodes was vigorously discussed in the early meetings, robust cultures and preparations are now routinely reported. But, still, ambitious groups continue to push the limits of cell-electrode coupling.

From the technological point of view, electrode materials as well as their shape and arrangement diversified over the years. MEA users now select their particular material of choice and their individual electrode array, comprising single wells, multi-wells or microfluidically-connected compartments. Furthermore, with the advent of active arrays (first session in 2008), the sheer number and electrode density increased dramatically, leading to the new method of electrical imaging. Further methodological advancements, such as the integration of optogenetic stimulation and 3D cell culture, are currently integrated in the meeting.

A second pillar of all MEA Meetings has been the applications in neurotechnology. Topics like stimulation of sensory systems or in vivo neurotechnology (discussed in 2012 and 2014) increased the meeting’s visibility and attendance. More recently (since 2014), the satellite meeting “Tübingen Neurotech” strengthens the interactions between MEA users and local clinical investigators.

This brief review illustrates the benefits that the MEA meeting offers to an interdisciplinary community. It unites scientists from clinical and biological fields with hardware and software specialists. And it contributes to addressing most pressing societal challenges in the health care area that can only be tackled by joining all necessary forces, and by including relevant industrial partners.

It is an honor and great pleasure for the NMI to organize and host the MEA Meeting. We are grateful to the members of the Scientific Committee for reviewing and rating the submitted abstracts. This year, the Hector Fellow Academy Speakers Award will honor the best oral presentation of a new innovation in the field of MEA technology or of scientific results of high relevance obtained by using MEAs.

We cordially welcome you to Reutlingen and are looking forward to the 10^th MEA Meeting, with enthusiastic discussions, stimulating scientific exchange and pleasurable social events. May it trigger great ideas and ties of science and friendship.

Enjoy the meeting!

Dr. Alfred Stett, Dr. Günther Zeck
Conference chairs, NMI, Reutlingen

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