Biological systems

…contributes quantitative approaches to biological systems.

Build and maintain data, data-science and model-training systems for AI BioDesign. Collaborate with research scientists on computational infrastructure and the development and evaluation of models for engineering biological systems.

Provide specialist technical support for discovering and characterising biological systems. Relevant methods include evolutionary analysis, sequencing, AI and experiments on microorganisms that are difficult to culture.

Investigate uncharacterised biological systems such as Fanzor and TIGR-Tas and engineer them as molecular tools. Research approaches include cryo-electron microscopy, molecular phylogenetics and sequencing-based functional analysis.

Aran Nayebi traces connections between neural-network architectures, biological vision and the design of autonomous cognitive agents. He proposes supplementing behavioural AI benchmarks with comparisons of internal population representations, discussing what a NeuroAI version of the Turing test could reveal about whether artificial and biological systems solve tasks in similar ways.

Charlotte Sletten Bjorå discusses plants, photosynthesis and the biological systems that sustain other life. Conversation in Norwegian.

…– what is the most optimal size (for a biological system)? The living world around us contains a huge diversity of organisms, each with its own characteristic size. Even the size of subcellular organelles is tightly controlled. In absence of physical rulers, how do cells and organisms truly “know” how large is large enough? What are the mechanisms in place to enforce size control? Many of these questions have motivated generations of scientists to lo

To enable the understanding and repair of complex biological systems, such as the brain, we are creating novel optical tools that enable molecular-resolution maps of such systems, as well as technologies for observing and controlling high-speed physiological dynamics in such systems. First, we have developed a method for imaging specimens with nanoscale precision, by embedding them in a swellable polymer, homogenizing their mechanical properties, and exposing them to water – which causes them to expand manyfold isotropically. This method, which we call expansion microscopy (ExM), enables ordin