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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Microtransplantation of Synaptic Membranes to Reactivate Human Synaptic Receptors for Functional Studies
Published on: July 20, 2022
Synaptic Functionality and Neuromorphic Information Processing in Membrane Ion Channel Junctions
Zhongwu Li1, Jiachen Feng1,2, Jingyi Xiao3
1Materials Science Division, Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA.
None:
The human brain performs complex memory and computational tasks with high energy efficiency by regulating ion transport through membrane channels. These signaling mechanisms have been inspiring the development of nanofluidic memristors that emulate synaptic behavior. Here, we describe a membrane ion channel synapse (MICS), constructed from aqueous droplets linked by gramicidin A channels, that achieves neuromorphic functionality. MICS exhibits memristive ion transport with hysteretic current-voltage behavior arising from voltage-dependent channel formation and ion transport dynamics. MICS emulates a range of synaptic behaviors including associative learning. We further demonstrate its application in reservoir computing by performing handwritten digit classification and tic-tac-toe game and explore the system parameters that improve the computational performance. This droplet-based biomimetic synapse offers a potentially scalable and energy-efficient platform for next-generation neuromorphic computing systems.
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