Development of a living cell-cell battery inspired by electric fishes

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22K18942
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 28:Nano/micro science and related fields
Research Institution	Nagoya University
Principal Investigator	MATURANA ANDRES 名古屋大学, 生命農学研究科, 准教授 (10452004)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	肥田博隆神戸大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (60402509) 神野伊策神戸大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (70346039)
Project Period (FY)	2022-06-30 – 2025-03-31
Project Status	Granted (Fiscal Year 2023)
Budget Amount *help	¥6,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,440,000) Fiscal Year 2024: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000) Fiscal Year 2023: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000) Fiscal Year 2022: ¥3,250,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥750,000)
Keywords	living cells / electric potential / Bioelectricity / ion channels / microchannel
Outline of Research at the Start	Our objective is to develop a cell battery that use the bioelectricity produced by living cells. For this , we aim at mimicking the electric potential generation by electric fishes, in particular the electric eel. Electric eel generate strong electric discharges with specialized cells called electroccytes. Electrocytes cells from the electric organ that generate up to 800V electric discharge. Using living cells in culture and microchannel device, we will fabricate an electric organ similar to the electric eel to generate bioelectrical power.
Outline of Annual Research Achievements	Our major objective is to develop a cell battery with living cell mimicking the electric fish electric power generation. In this year, we characterized our device by measuring potential, impedance. We could measure a potential increase when devices were connected in series.
Current Status of Research Progress	Current Status of Research Progress 2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned. Reason We could measure potential increase in series connected device.
Strategy for Future Research Activity	We will improve the cell culture on device to improve potential generation. We will improve series connection to achieve enough voltage to light a LED lamp.