Ferrara, Lorenzo, Callaly, Frank, Morgan, Fearghal, Mc Ginley, Brian, Leskovsky, Peter, Blau, Axel, Machado, Pedro, Krewer, Finn, McGinnity, Martin, Epelde, Gorka, Petrushin, Alexey, Mujika, Andoni
[
International Worm Meeting,
2015]
Despite being one of the five best-characterized model organisms, there is still only sparse knowledge on how C. elegans' nervous system codes for its rich behavioral repertoire. The European Si elegans project aims at unravelling C. elegans' nervous system function (hermaphrodite) by its emulation with 302 parallelly interconnected field-programmable gate array (FPGA) neurons and by embodying this hardware nervous system with a biophysically accurate soft-body representation in a virtual behavioral arena. We critically discuss past and present neurocomputational approaches and pitfalls of simulating nervous system function. We then present the first Si elegans implementation and system integration steps with focus on its key components and challenges. The biophysics-based simulation platform shall allow scientists to test neural processing hypotheses and (un)published behavioral paradigms. Users will have access to all currently known and biologically relevant variables for the reverse-engineering of nervous system function to confirm or even anticipate some of the underlying principles. This contribution aims at opening a scientific discourse on the requirements, possibilities and limits of the faithful biomimetic emulation of an organism from both the biological and engineering perspectives.Acknowledgements: This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement ndeg 601215, FET Proactive, call ICT-2011.9.11: Neuro-Bio-Inspired Systems (NBIS). www.si-elegans.eu.