Dr. Michael Levin - Tufts University - Reading and Writing the Bio-Electric Morphogenetic Code

 Dr. Michael Levin is a Tufts University professor who holds the Vannevar Bush endowed Chair in the Biology department, and who serves as both the Director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology and Director, Allen Discovery Center at Tufts. Dr. Levin’s group's focus is on understanding the bio-physical mechanisms that implement decision-making during complex pattern regulation, and harnessing endogenous bio-electric dynamics toward rational control of growth and form. The lab's current main directions are: • Understanding how somatic cells form bio-electrical networks for storing and recalling pattern memories that guide morphogenesis; • Creating next-generation AI tools for helping scientists understand top-down control of pattern regulation (a new bioinformatics of shape); and • Using these insights to enable new capabilities in regenerative medicine and engineering. Dr. Levin he got dual B.S. degrees, in Computer Science and in Biology and then received a PhD from Harvard University. He did post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School, where he began to uncover a new bio-electric language by which cells coordinate their activity during embryogenesis. His independent laboratory (2000-2007 at Forsyth Institute, Harvard; 2008-present at Tufts University) develops new molecular-genetic and conceptual tools to probe large-scale information processing in regeneration, embryogenesis, and cancer suppression. Recent honors include the Scientist of Vision award and the Distinguished Scholar Award.