Machine learning helps grow artificial organs

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Ivannikov Institute for System Programming, and the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Schepens Eye Research Institute have developed a neural network capable of recognizing retinal tissues during the process of their differentiation in a dish. Unlike humans, the algorithm achieves this without the need to modify cells, making the method suitable for growing retinal tissue for developing cell replacement therapies to treat blindness and conducting research into new drugs. The study was published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. In multicellular organisms, the cells making up different organs and tissues are not the same. They have distinct functions and properties, acquired in the course of development. They start out the same, as so-called stem cells, which have the potential to become any kind of cell the mature organism incorporates.