Neurovers-IT is a Marie Curie "Research Training Network", funded by the European Union's 6th Framework Program. The theme of the project is the potential of " in vitro neuronal networks" as a novel class of "computational device". Such devices, we believe, could provide capabilities that are difficult or impossible to implement in current silicon technology. For example, they could learn, they could adapt to the environment they inhabit, they could repair themselves. In some ways, at least they would be similar to the complex networks of neurons we find in human and animal brains.
Harnessing the computational power of living neurons will require contributions from many different disciplines. To culture the neurons, to encode and decode neural signals, to exploit their learning capabilities we need techniques and theoretical knowledge from neuroscience; to deliver stimuli to neurons and measure neuronal signals we need microelectronics; to turn lab experiments into devices with real-world applications, we need computer science, and robotics. In this setting, the goal of the Neurovers-IT project is to provide young researchers in the field with the multidisciplinary training they require. To achieve this, the project brings together a European network of academic and private sector partners from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The aim is to provide young researchers enrolled in the program with hands-on experience in their own specific area of specialization, while at the same time making them familiar with what is going on in other related disciplines. Thus, the Neurovers-IT learning program includes classroom and online lectures in the neurosciences, computer science, robotics and microelectronic, multidisciplinary summer schools, short lab-based courses in basic techniques, longer term lab visits and exchanges, as well as online and residential teaching on "transversal skills" such as paper writing and project management.
The program, which began in January 2006 will end in June 2009.