We have shown the current status of MEA research in terms of technology, the understanding of signal transduction, and the application to neuroscience studies. After years of MEA development, what is next? One path is to continuously improve the devices, i.e., better SNR, higher spatial resolution, more parallel readouts, scalability, portability, and increased ease-of-use. Additionally, device flexibility and biocompatibility are targets for long-term in vivo recording and stimulation. Another approach is to enhance MEA signal pre-processing for experimenters to easily extract meaningful information from recordings in real time. This is crucial for applications where fast, online analysis is required, e.g., closed-loop experiments and brain machine interfaces (BMIs) combined with stimulation therapies.
