Researchers demonstrate ‘biocomputer’ made from synthetic brain tissue and electronics

Researchers have created a ‘hybrid biocomputer’ that combines lab-grown brain tissue with traditional electronic circuits. The biocomputer can perform tasks such as voice recognition.

The researchers will release the system this week was presented in Nature Electronicsthe name Brainoware, it says a summary from Nature described. The biocomputer is based on ‘brain organoids’. These are bundles of tissue-mimicking human cells that are made from stem cells. These are used in research to recreate organs. In this case, they were used to make neurons, which are similar to the neurons in the human brain.

According to the researchers, Brainoware was able to identify voice sounds with an accuracy of 78 percent. To do this, the researchers trained a model with 240 recordings of eight different speakers. The brain tissue responded differently to the different voice sounds. The speaker could be identified based on those responses.

To create the biocomputer, the researchers placed an organoid on a plate with “thousands of electrodes” that could connect it to electrical circuits, Nature reports. The input information, in this case the voice recordings, was then converted from the circuits into a pattern of electrical pulses. These in turn are passed on to the organoid. The tissue’s response is then picked up by a sensor and deciphered using a machine learning algorithm.

For the time being, Brainoware is mainly a proof of concept, although the technology may eventually make fully biological computers possible. The technique could possibly be integrated into AI systems, or used for improved brain models for neuroscientific research, the researchers say. It could potentially be used to study brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, or to test the effectiveness and toxicity of treatments. “That’s where it’s promising; using these systems to hopefully one day replace animal models of the brain,” researcher Arti Ahluwalia from the University of Pisa tells Nature.

The researchers mention several challenges for the future, including keeping the organoids alive. The cells must grow in an incubator, which can become more challenging as the organoids used grow in size. The researchers still want to learn how brain organoids adapt to more complex tasks and further develop them for greater stability and reliability.

An illustration of brain organoids. Source: Roger Harris / Science Photo Library / Getty Images