BIO-COMPUTERS

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) recently outlined a plan for a potentially revolutionary new area of research called organoid intelligence, which aims to create “bio-computers”.
Organoid intelligence is an emerging interdisciplinary scientific field aiming to establish a new type of biological computing system.
These next-generation biocomputers will harness the computational power of the brain by using lab-grown brain organoids as ‘biological hardware’.
Biological computers are made from living cells.
Instead of electrical wiring and signaling, biological computers use chemical inputs and other biologically derived molecules such as proteins and DNA.
Potential of biological computers
Once a single biological cell is programmed, it’s extremely cost-effective to grow billions more with only the cost of the nutrient solutions and a lab tech’s time.
It’s also anticipated that biocomputers might actually be more reliable than their electronic counterparts.
They can just program cells to do the job they need them to do, for example, program cells to fight cancer or deliver insulin to a diabetic’s bloodstream.

What are brain organoids?

Brain organoids are three-dimensional cultures of brain cells grown in the lab.
They are generated from stem cells
Stem cells are unique cells that can become any type of cell under the right conditions

Challenges

It differs from biology as in the goal of biology is to reverse engineer things that have already been built while Biocomputing aims to forward engineer biology.
When dealing with biological environments in what is known as a “wet lab,” organisms might react unpredictably.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB

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