Could information processing system of the next run on human mentality cells ? A squad of researchers at Johns Hopkins University certainly imagine so . In a paper published in the diary Frontiers in Science , the team outline their design for ‘ organoid intelligence ’ , an emerging multidisciplinary field attend to develop biocomputers that function with human brains cellular telephone . Such a development could not only massively expand the capabilities of modern computing but also open up new fields of study .
Organoidsare tiny , ego - get up three-D tissues that are typically derived from base cells , and mimic the main functional and architectural complexity of an electric organ . It is possible there could be as many eccentric of organoids as there are tissues and organs in the dead body . To date , scientists have produced organoid culture for intestines , liver , pancreas , kidneys , prostate , lung , optic loving cup , and thebrain , and it seems more may be on the way .
These tissues provide unique opportunity for scientist to hit the books human diseases that do not rely on traditional methods associated with animate being models . The reliance on animal models has historically lead to a bottleneck in intervention discovery as there are biological process that are specific to the human eubstance and can not be sit on creature . The development of organoids promise to overcome theselimitations . Yet the squad at Johns Hopkins University are taking the research into organoids in a completely different direction .
Thomas Hartung with brain organoids in his lab at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Image credit: Will Kirk/Johns Hopkins University.
“ Computing and artificial intelligence have been tug the technology revolution but they are reaching a ceiling , ” excuse Thomas Hartung , a prof of environmental health skill at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Whiting School of Engineering , in astatement . “ Biocomputing is an tremendous effort of compacting computational magnate and increasing its efficiency to campaign past our current technical limits . ”
In 2012 , Hartung and his colleagues started to grow and assemblebrain organoidsusing human skin sample reprogramed into embryonal stem cellular telephone . Each organoid control about 50,000 cells and are about the size of the dot on the letter " i " . The organoids also contain neuron and other features that appear to sustain basic role such as learning and remembering . This present expectant potential for ramp up futurist data processor .
A computer power by this “ biological computer hardware ” could palliate the Department of Energy consumption demands ofsupercomputersand make them far more sustainable . Human brains may be slow than computer at swear out information , such as arithmetical , but they are far superior when it comes to logical decision making . Moreover , brains have an overall depot electrical capacity estimate at 2,500 terabytes , with 86 - 100 billion neurons make connection .
“ The nous is still unmatched by innovative computers , ” Hartung said . “ Frontier , the late supercomputer in Kentucky , is a $ 600 million , 6,800 - hearty - foot [ 632 - square meter ] installation . Only in June of last yr , it exceed for the first fourth dimension the computational capacity of a single human brain – but using a million times more energy . ”
Although it may be some time before organoid intelligence can compete with any type of reckoner , Hartung believes that biocomputers could be significantly quicker , more effective , and more brawny than theirsilicon - basedcounterparts , and they would require a fraction of the energy to operate .
“ It will take decades before we achieve the goal of something like to any type of estimator , ” Hartung said . “ But if we do n’t set out creating backing programs for this , it will be much more difficult . ”
The squad also hope that their research will open up new opportunity for drug testing , especially for neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegeneration . According to Lena Smirnova , Johns Hopkins supporter professor of environmental wellness and engineering science , who co - take the probe , “ We want to compare brain organoids from typically recrudesce conferrer versus brain organoids from donors with autism ” .
“ The tools we are developing towards biological computer science are the same puppet that will allow us to understand alteration in neuronal networks specific for autism , without having to use animals or to entree patients , so we can empathize the underlie mechanisms of why patient role have these cognition issue and impairments . ”
The newspaper publisher has been publish inFrontiers in Science .
