EFRI BEGIN OI: Implantation of Dense Associative Memory through CArdiac muscle cell-based Reprogrammable Bio-Oscillatory Neural Networks

All organisms collect and store information. This holds true for single- and multi-celled organisms. The information is used to inform decision-making. This insight led to the notion of biocomputing. A promising biocomputing system could involve cardiac muscle cells. They naturally transmit electricity. This project is designed to explore the programming of arrays of cardiac muscle cells. If these arrays are programmable and can store information, they would offer an energy-efficient computational system. The project will also involve interdisciplinary student mentoring and workshops for undergraduate and high school students. One workshop will be dedicated to ethical, philosophical, and social science dimensions of the project. The goal of this project is to explore the potential of using heart muscle cells as the basis for a recurrent (Hopfield) neural network. The hypothesis is that Cardiac muscle cell-based Reprogrammable BioOscillator Neural Networks (CARBON) can implement scalable and high-capacity associative memory. The cardiac muscle cells will be connected by fibroblasts. A key component of the project is modifying the fibroblast cell lines with optogenetically tunable ion channels. These channels would be used to adjust their capacitive (C), resistive (R) and hybrid-RC filter characteristics. This enables their application as programmable weights in the Hopfield RNN. The research has ethical, legal, and social implications that will be studied by exploring questions that were never answered before. In a highly convergent endeavor, this project will aim to study questions pertaining to "systems capable of displaying aspects of intelligence", especially not in traditional “regulatory ethics” way, but around questions that explore the topic from a cultural and traditional standpoint to philosophy of mind and to metaphysical questions around “What properties does a “computing” device or system need to have to be called an “entity,” “living” or “intelligent?”, to History and Philosophy of Science questions such as “What is the history and future of biocomputing?” none of which has been asked before in the context of biocomputing using living cells. This project is jointly funded by the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Program (BEGIN OI), the Directorate for Biological Sciences, and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.