Michael Levin

Michael Levin, Ph.D.
Vannevar Bush Professor, Tufts University
Biology
Levin Research Group

Abstract: Endogenous bioelectrical networks instruct growth and form: from pre-neural mechanisms to electroceuticals for regenerative medicine
Embryos and regenerating systems produce very complex, robust anatomical structures and stop growth and remodeling when those structures are complete.  One of the most remarkable things about morphogenesis is that it is not simply a feed-forward emergent process, but one that has massive plasticity: even when disrupted by manipulations such as damage or changing the sizes of cells, the system often manages to achieve its morphogenetic goal. How do cell collectives know what to build and when to stop? In this talk, I will highlight some important knowledge gaps about this process of anatomical homeostasis that remain despite progress in molecular genetics. I will then offer a perspective on morphogenesis as an example of a goal-directed collective intelligence that solves problems in morphospace and physiological space. We have been pursuing the hypothesis that an ancient, pre-neural bioelectric communication system among somatic cells enables them to cooperate toward anatomical outcomes.  I will show examples of our work to read and write the bioelectric information that instructs growth and form. I will show how new biophysical and computational tools are enabling increased control over large-scale morphogenesis in the context of birth defects, regeneration, and cancer.  Ion channel drugs thus form a class of "electroceuticals" for new applications in regenerative medicine.  I will conclude with a new example that sheds light on anatomic plasticity and the relationship between genomically-specified hardware and the software that guides morphogenesis: synthetic living proto-organisms known as Xenobots.

Biography:
Michael Levin’s original background was in software engineering, and he worked in artificial intelligence and scientific computing before obtaining dual B.S. degrees in computer science and biology. He received his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Harvard, uncovering the genetic pathway underlying invariant left-right asymmetry of vertebrate embryogenesis. He did post-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School identifying long-range physiological communication upstream of the laterality transcriptional cascade. He started his independent lab at Forsyth Institute in 2000, developing the first molecular tools for probing endogenous bioelectrical signaling in embryogenesis. In 2009, he moved his lab to Tufts University (https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/levin/Default.htm ), where he is currently Distinguished Professor and Vannevar Bush Chair.  In 2016, he became the director of the new Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University (http://allencenter.tufts.edu ). His group works at the interface between developmental biology, cognitive science, and computer science. Using biophysics, computational modeling, and molecular genetics, the Levin lab investigates the information processing in tissues that enables cells to cooperate towards the self-assembly and repair of complex anatomies.  Developing mathematical models and novel ion channel modulation strategies, they work to understand  how all cell types, not just neurons, form electrical networks that make decisions about growth and form.  Applications have included reprogramming organ identity, inducing regeneration of appendages, normalizing tumors, and repairing of brain and craniofacial birth defects. By re-writing the bioelectrical “pattern memories” in tissues, they seek to develop applications for regenerative medicine, birth defects, cancer, and synthetic morphology. His latest work is focused on creating novel living organisms (https://icdorgs.org/) as a platform in which to understand the scaling of collective intelligence and the relationship between minds and bodies.