QUANTIFYING TISSUE-LEVEL INTELLIGENCE VIA SYNTHETIC LIVING CONSTRUCTS.
Abstract
We want to understand the collective intelligence of cells. Intelligence can be defined as competency in navigating problem-solving tasks in various problem spaces. Familiar examples of intelligence driven by brains take place in the 3D space of the visible world. However, evolution has been deploying intelligence to enable cells and tissues to navigate spaces long before brains and muscles appeared. Problem spaces with great relevance for basic science and applications include physiological, gene expression, and anatomical parameter spaces. Here, we propose to answer fundamental questions about cellular collective intelligence, functional plasticity, and evolutionary scaling by bioengineering novel minimal living systems: in vitro constructs made of human cells that live in virtual worlds and are hybrids of living tissue and electronics. These systems will reveal generic capacities of life, showing how evolution exploits the laws of physics and computation to function in truly novel embodiments. Our over-arching hypothesis is: combinations of living tissue and bioelectronic interface, whether neural or non-neural, will exhibit plasticity in transferring their problem-solving skills from the default domain (operating a body) to novel domains. We will train human neurons and epithelial cells to navigate a virtual arena (avoid walls) and then test them on the ability to apply the same skills to running a virtual organ simulator in a way that avoids disease states (epilepsy and developmental malformations). Our new closed-loop platform will answer questions including: Can synthetic tissues exhibit a measurable degree of intelligence, defined as ability to learn from experience and increased competency in navigating novel problem spaces? What are the differences between the kinds of things non-neural tissues can learn, compared to neural ones? What is the degree of plasticity of neural, and non-neural synthetic tissues in a virtual world? How does the physical architecture of the tissue construct determine the degree of intelligence?
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 20, 2023
- Source ID
- FA95502210465
Entities
People
- Michael Levin
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Tufts University
- United States Air Force