Virtual reality for bacteria

Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) have managed to control the behavior of individual bacteria by connecting them to a computer. The interdisciplinary team including experimental biologist Remy Chait and mathematician Jakob Ruess (now at the Institut Pasteur and Inria Saclay in France), as well as Professors Calin Guet and Gasper Tkacik, used the setup to build a genetic circuit that is partly living and partly digital. In the experimental proof of concept, they made gene expression in bacteria oscillate, and controlled the patterns of oscillation by adjusting digital communication between individual bacteria. A potential application of such bio-digital hybrid technology could make it possible to “debug” complex biological systems in the same way complex computer codes are debugged: by testing each part individually while simulating its surroundings in a form of virtual reality.