Professor Michael Levin: Vannevar Bush Professor, and Director, Allen Discovery Center & Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, Tufts University
Modern biology has made great strides in uncovering the molecular hardware of cells, but major gaps remain in our ability to control large-scale form and function. The next revolution in biomedical and information sciences will concern the software of life.
In this presentation, Professor Michael Levin explained how his group is using new approaches to understand the collective intelligence of cells. Using a range of computer modeling and molecular physiology approaches, they are learning to crack the bioelectric code that guides embryogenesis and regeneration. He described efforts in natural and synthetic living organisms to understand cognition and drive advances in the regenerative medicine of birth defects, traumatic injury, and cancer.