An electro-physiological study of cellular membranes for a biologically feasible neural building-block

Artificial neural networks, commonly referred to as ANNs, have been used extensively in the field of neurobiology for the purpose of modeling many neural processes, as well as for studying the characteristics of mental disorders. While neurobiologists may view ANNs to be an integral part of the research arsenal, ANNs are more frequently seen as tools for signal processing and pattern recognition from the engineer´s perspective. As the field of biological-based engineering grows, more research needs to be done on expanding the engineer´s role in biological modeling, including neuron and neurological modeling. The paper seeks to retrace the research done in a specific area of neurobiology, namely, the study of the properties of the cell membrane. In doing so, the article attempts to organize the steps made in a logical manner so as to show the directions in which progress has been made. Following this, an attempt is made to suggest areas of application for this knowledge