Our team is specialized in electrophysiology in vitro. One of our main technological achievements is the development of a neuron-machine interface based on dynamic-clamp that allows the reconstruction of “hybrid circuits”, made of living neurons synaptically interacting with computer models. Current research interests include the modulation of sensory information processing in the thalamus and cortex by top-down background synaptic activity (in intra-UNIC collaboration with Alain Destexhe and Yves Frégnac’s teams). We recently implemented hybrid circuits reproducing the main features of the thalamic gate and explored the functional impact of various statistics of the cortical feedback. We found that the regulation of sensory information is critically determined by the statistical coherence of the cortical feedback. We also apply the technique to exploration of homeostatic plasticity at the neuromuscular synapse and its pathologies. We demonstrate for the first time the mechanisms of homeostasis at the neuromuscular synapse, and its control in real-time using the cell-computer interface (G. Ouanounou). We currently collaborate with D.A. McCormick (Yale university, USA) on unprecedented high-resolution voltage sensitive imaging of neurons, a recent methodology that allows recording of membrane potential from previously inaccessible portions of neurons.