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We can, must, and will simulate nematode brains
Scientists have spent over 25 years trying — and failing — to build computer simulations of the smallest brain we know. Today, we finally have the tools to pull it off.
By early 2011, Larson and Idili had put together a team to start work on what would become the OpenWorm project — the efforts of a decentralized group of academics with the goal of creating a complete, realistic, and open source model of C. elegans. This includes not only the variable strength of synapses (in neuroscience, these are called weights) but also the cells’ membrane properties, such as capacitance and the shapes of dendrites and axons, which affect how electrical signals propagate. My research focuses on creating a scientifically-grounded simulation of C. elegans by integrating these recently developed microscopy, fluorescent reporter, and machine learning methods into a cohesive pipeline and methodological framework.
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