Biocomputing is an emerging field using lab-grown human brain cells (organoids) on chips to create “wetware” computers that are more energy-efficient than silicon-based systems. Australian start-up Cortical Labs and others like FinalSpark have developed systems where neurons, cultivated from stem cells, process information and perform tasks, with prototypes having learned to play Pong and operate on minimal power.
Scientists using the ideas of hardware and software in the computers : just creating neurons which are developed into clusters called organoids, which in turn can be attached to electrodes – at which point the process of trying to use them like mini-computers can begin.
Key aspects of this technology include:
- How it Works: Roughly 800,000 to millions of neurons are cultured in a, nutrient-rich, temperature-controlled environment and connected to silicon chips via electrodes to form a “Biological Intelligence Operating System (biOS)“.
- Commercial Availability: The CL1, a device from Cortical Labs, is the first commercially available computer using human brain cells for research.
- Key Advantages: These biological systems are significantly more energy-efficient than traditional AI, with the potential to learn and adapt in real-time, offering a potential solution to the high energy consumption of traditional AI.
- Limitations: The cells have a limited lifespan, generally lasting around six months.
- Ethical Considerations: Researchers are actively discussing the implications of using living human neurons, including whether these mini-brains could ever develop consciousness.
This technology is currently used for research into brain disease modeling and improving the energy efficiency of future computing.
Key Biocomputing & Bio-AI Links
- Final Spark (Neuro Platform): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txtDpCLHUkU Cloud-based access to living human brain organoids for research.
- Cortical Labs: https://corticallabs.com/ Developer of biological computers using neurons in simulated environments.
- Springer Nature Biocomputing: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-97-7154-7_3 Research on DNA computing and information processing in biological substrates.
- Bio-computation Sites & Info: https://biocomputing.homelinux.org/index.php/80-biocomputing/73-links-to-biological-computation-sites-and-information Curated links for simulation software and biological computation.
Major Bioinformatics Resources
- NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information): https://bioinfoweek.stanford.edu/links.html Primary resource for molecular biology and genetic data.
- OBRC (Online Bioinformatics Resources Collection): https://guides.lib.unc.edu/bioinformatics A directory of thousands of databases and tools for genomic/proteomic analysis.
- ISCB (International Society for Computational Biology): https://www.luc.edu/bioinformatics/bioinformaticslinks/ Scholarly society for computing in biology.
- Traxler Lab Biocomputing Links: https://depts.washington.edu/traxlab/biolinks.html Curated links to sequence alignment, structure prediction, and databases.
- BioComputing UP (RING 2.0): https://protein.bio.unipd.it/research Software for analyzing protein residue interaction networks.
Comprehensive Bioinformatics Directories
- Pedro’s BioMolecular Research Tool: A classic, curated list of web-based molecular biology analysis tools.
- Kihara Lab BioInfolinks: https://kiharalab.org/bioinfolinks/ A collection of key tools like BLAST, PSI-BLAST, and sequence databases.
- Bioinformatics.org: A comprehensive community site for bioinformatics tools and resources.
Key Research Areas
- DNA Computing: Using DNA strands to perform logical operations.
- Neuro-computing: Utilizing human neurons for AI processing.
- Residue Interaction Networks (RINs): Analyzing protein structure
