BRAIN CELLS COULD BE USED TO MAKE ‘BIOCOMPUTERS’

Sat 04 March 2023:

Calling the technology “organoid intelligence”, a team from Johns Hopkins University noted that it will exponentially expand the capabilities of modern computing and create novel fields of study.

In New York According to US experts, a “biBRAIN CELLS COULD BE USED TO MAKE ‘BIOCOMPUTERS’ocomputer” fueled by human brain cells may become a reality within the next ten years.

A team from Johns Hopkins University described the technique as “organoid intelligence,” noting that it will dramatically increase the capabilities of contemporary computing and produce new fields of study.

According to Thomas, Professor of environmental health sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, computing and artificial intelligence which drove the technology revolution, have hit a ceiling. And biocomputing can help “push past our current technological limits,” he noted.

For nearly two decades, scientists have used tiny organoids, lab-grown tissue resembling fully grown organs, to experiment on kidneys, lungs, and other organs without resorting to human or animal testing.

Recently, Hartung and his team have begun experimenting with brain organoids, spheres the size of a pen-dot that include neurons and other components that hold the possibility of sustaining fundamental cognitive processes like learning and memory.

“This opens up research on how the human brain works,” Hartung said. “Because you can start manipulating the system, doing things you cannot ethically do with human brains.”

In 2012, Hartung used cells from human skin samples that had been reprogrammed into an embryonic stem cell-like condition to start growing and assembling brain cells into functioning organoids. Each organoid has 50,000 cells, or roughly the same number as the nervous system of a fruit fly. He is now thinking of using these brain organoids to create a futuristic computer.

In the upcoming decade, computers powered by this “biological hardware” might start to reduce the unsustainable energy demands of supercomputing, according to Hartung’s research in the journal Frontiers in Science.

While “the brain is still unmatched by modern computers,” by scaling up production of brain organoids and training them with artificial intelligence, Hartung foresees a future where biocomputers support superior computing speed, processing power, data efficiency, and storage capabilities.

The researchers said that organoid intelligence could also revolutionize drug testing research for neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegeneration.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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