A 'biocomputer' powered by human brain cells could be developed within our lifetime, according to researchers who expect such technology to exponentially expand the capabilities of modern computing and create novel fields of study.
From: Johns Hopkins University
February 28, 2023 -- The
team outlines their plan for "organoid intelligence" today in the
journal Frontiers in Science.
"Computing and
artificial intelligence have been driving the technology revolution but they
are reaching a ceiling," said Thomas Hartung, a professor of environmental
health sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and
Whiting School of Engineering who is spearheading the work. "Biocomputing
is an enormous effort of compacting computational power and increasing its
efficiency to push past our current technological limits."
For nearly two decades
scientists have used tiny organoids, lab-grown tissue resembling fully grown
organs, to experiment on kidneys, lungs, and other organs without resorting to
human or animal testing. More recently Hartung and colleagues at Johns Hopkins
have been working with brain organoids, orbs the size of a pen dot with neurons
and other features that promise to sustain basic functions like learning and
remembering.
"This opens up
research on how the human brain works," Hartung said. "Because you
can start manipulating the system, doing things you cannot ethically do with
human brains."
Hartung began to grow
and assemble brain cells into functional organoids in 2012 using cells from
human skin samples reprogrammed into an embryonic stem cell-like state. Each
organoid contains about 50,000 cells, about the size of a fruit fly's nervous
system. He now envisions building a futuristic computer with such brain
organoids.
Computers that run on
this "biological hardware" could in the next decade begin to
alleviate energy-consumption demands of supercomputing that are becoming
increasingly unsustainable, Hartung said. Even though computers process
calculations involving numbers and data faster than humans, brains are much
smarter in making complex logical decisions, like telling a dog from a cat.
"The brain is
still unmatched by modern computers," Hartung said. "Frontier, the
latest supercomputer in Kentucky, is a $600 million, 6,800-square-feet
installation. Only in June of last year, it exceeded for the first time the
computational capacity of a single human brain -- but using a million times
more energy."
It might take decades
before organoid intelligence can power a system as smart as a mouse, Hartung
said. But by scaling up production of brain organoids and training them with
artificial intelligence, he foresees a future where biocomputers support superior
computing speed, processing power, data efficiency, and storage capabilities.
"It will take
decades before we achieve the goal of something comparable to any type of
computer," Hartung said. "But if we don't start creating funding
programs for this, it will be much more difficult."
Organoid intelligence
could also revolutionize drug testing research for neurodevelopmental disorders
and neurodegeneration, said Lena Smirnova, a Johns Hopkins assistant professor
of environmental health and engineering who co-leads the investigations.
"We want to
compare brain organoids from typically developed donors versus brain organoids
from donors with autism," Smirnova said. "The tools we are developing
towards biological computing are the same tools that will allow us to
understand changes in neuronal networks specific for autism, without having to
use animals or to access patients, so we can understand the underlying
mechanisms of why patients have these cognition issues and impairments."
To assess the ethical
implications of working with organoid intelligence, a diverse consortium of
scientists, bioethicists, and members of the public have been embedded within
the team.
Johns Hopkins authors
included: Brian S. Caffo, David H. Gracias, Qi Huang, Itzy E. Morales Pantoja, Bohao
Tang, Donald J. Zack, Cynthia A. Berlinicke, J. Lomax Boyd, Timothy DHarris,
Erik C. Johnson, Jeffrey Kahn, Barton L. Paulhamus, Jesse Plotkin, Alexander S.
Szalay, Joshua T. Vogelstein, and Paul F. Worley.
Other authors included:
Brett J. Kagan, of Cortical Labs; Alysson R. Muotri, of the University of
California San Diego; and Jens C. Schwamborn of University of Luxembourg.
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