A free workshop this June about M-CELS will feature AIM Biotech co-founder Roger Kamm, PhD. As a keynote speaker, he’ll discuss his perspectives as a pioneering researcher at MIT.
What are M-CELS?
Multi-cellular engineered living systems—M-CELS—is an emerging field at the intersection of engineering and biology. Like any engineered device, M-CELS consist of multiple parts—various cell types, extracellular matrices, substrates, and so on—that, through their interactions, perform a desired task. The unique thing about M-CELS is that because those components are living, they are designed to take advantage of biology’s ability to grow, self-organize, and adapt to changing conditions, drawing upon innate biological emergence. This, in the words of the M-CELS workshop site, allows “the final system to emerge through natural and non-natural biological processes.”
Why does that matter?
M-CELS are a new and growing field with applications ranging from drug development in the pharmaceutical industry to biological actuators for miniaturized robotics, and building them faces pioneering technical and ethical challenges. Incorporating the emergent nature of living things to accomplish some task is a groundbreaking approach to engineering, and the full potential of applications and implications on research, the economy, and ethics are only beginning to be understood. This M-CELS workshop intends to bring together thought leaders in the field to explore all of this and more.
Kamm’s keynote sneak peek
In our next post, we’ll have a preview from Roger Kamm about his perspective on M-CELS and what he plans to discuss as a keynote speaker.
Register for the event!
To learn more about the M-CELS workshop and get your free virtual registration, visit the event site at mcelsworkshop2021.pathable.co. The workshop will run from June 1-3.