{"id":17048,"date":"2023-03-06T15:46:41","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T10:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?p=17048"},"modified":"2023-06-26T06:22:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T00:52:09","slug":"bio-computers","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/bio-computers","title":{"rendered":"Bio-computers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) recently outlined a plan for a potentially revolutionary new area of research called <\/span><b>\u201corganoid intelligence\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which aims to create <\/span><b>\u201cbio\u00adcomputers\u201d.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-17050 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/6.2-mar.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"629\" height=\"361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/6.2-mar.png 629w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/6.2-mar-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/6.2-mar-360x207.png 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><i>Image Source: The Hindu<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>What is biocomputer<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here, brain cultures grown in the lab are coupled to real\u00adworld sensors and input\/output devices.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scientists expect the technology to harness the processing power of the brain and understand the biological basis of human cognition, learning, and various neurological disorders.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Premise of this technology<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Studying the human brain has been difficult, and researchers have traditionally used rat brains to investigate neurological disorders.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists are now building <\/span><b>3D cultures of brain tissue<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the lab <\/span><b>called brain organoids<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to develop systems more relevant to humans.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brain organoids are <\/span><b>built using human stem cells<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and capture many structural and functional features of a developing human brain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers use brain organoids to study human brain development and test drugs to see how they respond.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, brain organoids currently lack sensory inputs and blood circulation, limiting their growth and sophistication.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is the new \u2018bio\u00adcomputer\u2019?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">JHU researchers plan to create <\/span><b>&#8220;bio-computers&#8221;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by combining brain organoids with modern computing methods.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Organoids will be grown inside flexible structures with multiple electrodes to record firing patterns and deliver electrical stimuli.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Machine-learning techniques<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will be used to analyze the response patterns of neurons and their effects on human behavior and biology.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Human neurons have already been grown on a microelectrode array that can both record and stimulate them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brain organoids can be developed using stem cells from individuals with<\/span><b> neurodegenerative or cognitive disorders.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Comparing data between healthy and patient-derived organoids can reveal the biological basis of human cognition, learning, and memory.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Opportunities for \u2018bio-computers\u2019:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Processing complex information:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Bio-computers can utilize the superior processing power of the human brain to handle complex tasks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Researching neurodegenerative diseases:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Brain organoids developed using stem cells from patients with neurodegenerative diseases can be used to decode the pathology of these diseases and develop drugs to treat them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Revealing the biological basis of human cognition:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Comparing the data on brain structure, connections, and signalling between healthy and patient-derived organoids can reveal the biological basis of human cognition, learning, and memory.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Advancing drug development:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Brain organoids can be used to test drugs for effectiveness and safety before they are tested on humans, potentially speeding up the drug development process.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Are \u2018bio\u00adcomputers\u2019 ready for commercial use?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scaling up brain organoids and incorporating non-neuronal cells is crucial for improving their computing capacity.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developing microfluidic systems and Big Data infrastructure will also be necessary to generate and store large amounts of data.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists have said that the challenge is now to establish long\u00ad-term memory which is expected to be achieved this within 1-\u00ad2 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is also a proposal for an ethics team to address any ethical concerns.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/explained-what-are-bio-computers-and-what-can-they-tell-us-about-the-human-brain\/article66583002.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>News Source: The Hindu The Hindu<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context:\u00a0 Scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) recently outlined a plan for a potentially revolutionary new area of research called \u201corganoid intelligence\u201d, which aims to create \u201cbio\u00adcomputers\u201d.\u00a0 Image Source: The Hindu What is biocomputer Here, brain cultures grown in the lab are coupled to real\u00adworld sensors and input\/output devices. The scientists expect the technology to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/bio-computers\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Bio-computers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1315,1316,1317],"paper-wise":[],"subject":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/17048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/17048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17048"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=17048"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=17048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}