Chemical and Biological Engineering Spring Seminar Series: AI-Designed Organisms

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering presents Sam Kriegman, assistant professor at Northwestern University will give a presentation on “AI-Designed Organisms” as part of the department’s spring 2023 seminar series. This seminar is open to all students and will take place on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 in room 131 of Perlstein Hall from 3:15–4:30 p.m. 

Abstract

In this talk, I will describe the genesis of Xenobots: living robots composed entirely of frog (Xenopus) cells.  I will describe the computational and biological technologies used to create them; where they are leapfrogging beyond conventional robots; and how insights can bounce back and forth among biology, robotics, and computer science. I will conclude with ideas about potential downstream applications of these emerging technologies as they mature in the years to come.

Bio

Sam Kriegman is an assistant professor of computer science, chemical and biological engineering, and mechanical engineering at Northwestern University. His research draws inspiration from the origin and subsequent evolution of life, and applies the underlying mechanisms of self-organization and natural selection to the creation of novel autonomous machines. These machines can, in some cases, perform useful work, or they may be used as scientific tools to understand how animals evolve, grow, move, sense, and think.