{"id":84759,"date":"2021-05-27T07:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T04:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/blog\/teaching-microbes-their-letters\/"},"modified":"2021-05-27T07:00:27","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T04:00:27","slug":"teaching-microbes-their-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/teaching-microbes-their-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Microbes Their Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent breakthrough, scientists from the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering were able to achieve recognition of specific geometric patterns \u2013 for example, letters \u2013 by engineered microbe colonies imitating an artificial neural network. The scientists\u2019 method relies on a modification of the way communication occurs within microbe colonies in nature. The study, led by Dr. Ximing Li and Assistant Professor Ramez Daniel, was published in <\/span>Nature Communications<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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L-R: Assistant Professor Ramez Daniel and Dr. Ximing Li<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The interest of Prof. Daniel\u2019s lab lies in synthetic biology, specifically in generating biological circuits, in essence combining the principles of biology and electronics. Like electronic switches that can be turned on and off, cells are engineered to \u201cturn on\u201d and perform a function, for example, fluorescence, in response to a particular stimulus. Using this technique, the group has already engineered biological sensors that recognize the presence of arsenic and other poisons in water or the presence of blood in urine.<\/span><\/p>\n

But cells are capable of more complex functions than a simple yes\/no switch. Microbial colonies in nature are capable of communication within the colony. For example, they may respond differently when they are alone and when there are many of them together. This phenomenon, called \u201cquorum sensing,\u201d is also at play for example when our immune system mobilizes against an infection \u2013 information is passed regarding what the pathogen is, how much of a response is required, and more. One cell alone might be \u201cdumb,\u201d but the colony is \u201csmart.\u201d It is this phenomenon that Prof. Daniel\u2019s group utilized in order to increase the algorithmic complexity of the task by a factor, and, for the first time, generate a biological circuit acting as an artificial neural network, capable of performing the relatively complex task of pattern recognition. Its building blocks: engineered <\/span>E. coli<\/span><\/i> bacteria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Geometric patterns are a proof of concept of what biological circuits acting as an artificial neural network can do. In the future, we might see bioengineered systems monitoring toxins, diagnosing cancer, and being used in tissue regeneration. We might even have biological computers. It is interesting to observe how synthetic biology, seeking to imitate electronics in biological systems, has come a full circle, creating a likeness of an artificial neural network, which is of course inspired by the human brain \u2013 itself a biological system.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prof. Daniel started working on biological computing during his postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), initially on analog computation. Biological circuits acting as an artificial neural network are a novel development and a conceptual advancement in the same field. It was made possible with the assistance of Associate Professor Netanel Korin, also from the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Li is a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Daniel\u2019s laboratory. She completed her Ph.D. in computational neuroscience at the University of Ohio.<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/span><\/a> for the paper in Nature Communications<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In a recent breakthrough, scientists from the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering were able to achieve recognition of specific geometric patterns \u2013 for example, letters \u2013 by engineered microbe colonies imitating an artificial neural network. The scientists\u2019 method relies on a modification of the way communication occurs within microbe colonies in nature. The study, led… Continue Reading Teaching Microbes Their Letters<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTeaching Microbes Their Letters - \u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/teaching-microbes-their-letters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teaching Microbes Their Letters - \u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a recent breakthrough, scientists from the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering were able to achieve recognition of specific geometric patterns \u2013 for example, letters \u2013 by engineered microbe colonies imitating an artificial neural network. 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