What is the smallest particle of an element that still retains properties of that element?

It's an atom. It's known as the smallest particle of an element!

Because electrons have negligible mass, to account for the mass of the isotope, there must be 16 neutrons, 16 neutrally charged, massive, fundamental particles present in the sulfur nucleus. and thus finally, if we have the 32s2− ion, there are 18 electrons, 16 protons, and 16 neutrons.

The  grandmother cell  is a hypothetical  neuronthat represents a complex but specific concept or object.[1]  it activates when a person "sees, hears, or otherwise sensibly discriminates"[2]  a specific entity, such as his or her grandmother. the term was in use at least as early as 1966 amongst staff and students in the department of experimental psychology, university of cambridge, england. a similar concept, that of the  gnostic neuron, was proposed two years later