NSF-ANR: REBIRTH: Understanding The Self-Assembly Of The Nervous System of Hydra Vulgaris

To understand the physical and biological principles underlying the self-assembly of the nervous system of the fresh-water polyp Hydra vulgaris, the PIs propose a collaboration between theoreticians and experimentalists that will focus on this problem. The PIs will image the activity of every neuron and muscle cell during re-aggregation of Hydra, and analyze it with novel imaging, statistical and mathematical tools, correlating the emergence of phase transitions in the neuronal and muscle activity with the appearance of specific behaviors. This work will provide a deep insight into algorithms and mechanisms of self-assembly, with important repercussions for control theory, neuroscience, soft-matter physics, robotics and network science. Due to Hydra's extreme regenerative ability, this work may enable synthetic biology of an organism with a nervous system; and the work will have future repercussions for the field of neuroregeneration. The techniques developed for tracking of neurons in a moving and distorting animal will be made widely available and will be of use in other systems. The study of Hydra with the proposed integrated imaging/computational approach will serve as an imaginatively appealing platform for a range of outreach opportunities introducing members of the general public to mathematical neuroscience, and training opportunities for students at all levels. In particular, the Hydra system can be deeply integrated into the full spectrum of courses at the Marine Biological Laboratory and provide cross-cutting projects for students from diverse backgrounds.

One of the most fascinating aspects of biological organisms is their self-assembly: bodies put themselves together without external directions, to yield robust, resilient and adaptive living systems. This is particular dramatic in the cnidarian Hydra vulgaris. This small, transparent polyp has unique regenerative properties, demonstrated in the ability to completely regenerate itself after its body has been dissociated into individual cells. This remarkable self assembly, regenerating a normal animal, is complete within a few days, occurs robustly in culture dishes under a microscope and has surprisingly not yet been studied systematically. This project goes to the heart of this problem and will apply the a state-of-the-art toolset of modern neuroscience and computational approaches to this fundamental problem.

This collaborative US/France project is supported by the US National Science Foundation and the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche, where NSF funds the US investigator and ANR funds the partners in France.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.