Michael Akilian
Workshop
Action shot!
What did you explore in your residency?
I explored the emerging field of bioelectricity. On the backs of recent progress in neurotechnology (reverse engineering human minds) and artificial intelligence (engineering minds in silicon), I was intrigued by the concept that intelligence may be much more pervasive in nature (i.e. all cells have some form of voltage signaling, not just neurons). I wanted to immerse myself in the literature, talk to academics, and build my own intuition for whether this was an important phenomena in biology or not.
Key insights and learnings
I'm starting to get a grip around what the interesting questions to even ask are, and that feels like important progress. More generally, I'd say that the best way to concretize learning is to ship something, no matter how farfetched or hard it may seem. The choice to build a DIY lab and speed-run replicating experiments in planaria was a defining moment in the residency for me and helped ground my exploration in reality.
Wormhole
Research in Action
Worm
A research subject
What's next?
I'm continuing to run independent bioelectricity experiments out of my (now) home worm lab as well as working at the Jia lab at UCSF to answer some more fundamental questions about the field. I hope to become an expert in this area over the coming year.
Favorite memory from the Residency
Besides setting up the worm lab downstairs and running my two experiments, I enjoyed our multi-hour Shotwell brawls, coffee walks with Michael, teas with Carolyn, and conversations with Axel.
How has Interact shaped your relationship to technology?
I appreciate the surface area for serendipity that pursuing this work in a larger social environment brought. By creating a space where folks are excited to hang around, help each other, and speak to others about your work – you never know where that might lead.
About Michael
[TODO: Michael to add bio]
Artifacts & Links
