Bodily ownership of an independent supernumerary limb: an exploratory study.

Can our brain perceive a sense of ownership towards an independent supernumerary limb; one that can be moved independently of any other limb and provides its own independent movement feedback? Following the rubber-hand illusion experiment, a plethora of studies have shown that the human representation of "self" is very plastic. But previous studies have almost exclusively investigated ownership towards "substitute" artificial limbs, which are controlled by the movements of a real limb and/or limbs from which non-visual sensory feedback is provided on an existing limb. Here, to investigate whether the human brain can own an independent artificial limb, we first developed a novel independent robotic "sixth finger.

Transfection microarray of nonadherent cells on an oleyl poly(ethylene glycol) ether-modified glass slide.

Cell-based microarrays are emerging as a tool for analyzing the functions of genes in cells. However, partly due to the difficulty of cell immobilization, the application of this method has been limited to adherent cells. We previously reported a method that rapidly and strongly attached living nonadherent cells to glass slides modified with a cell membrane anchoring reagent, designated a biocompatible anchor for membrane (BAM).

Immobilized culture of nonadherent cells on an oleyl poly(ethylene glycol) ether-modified surface.

Microarrays of living cells are an emerging tool in systems such as reverse transfection. These studies are limited to adherent cells partly because of the difficulty of cell immobilization. Using a newly developed reagent, the biocompatible anchor for membrane (BAM), we show herein the rapid and strong attachment of living nonadherent cells and adherent cells on BAM-modified surfaces.