Michael Levin

Michael Levin is an American developmental and synthetic biologist. He is a professor of biomedical engineering and the Vannevar Bush Distinguished Professor of Biology at Tufts University, where he is the director of the Allen Discovery Center and the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. with Josh Bongard.

Early life Michael Levin was born in Moscow, USSR, in 1969, into a Jewish family. His parents faced antisemitism in the Soviet Union, and in 1978 took advantage of a visa program for Soviet Jews and moved the family to Lynn, Massachusetts.

Levin's family immigration was sponsored by Temple Sinai in Marblehead, Massachusetts. His family is still members of Temple Sinai.

Career Levin received dual bachelor's degrees in computer science and biology from Tufts University, and a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University (working in the lab of Clifford Tabin). His post-doctoral training was in the Cell Biology department of Harvard School of Medicine with Mark Mercola. Levin first established his independent lab at the Forsyth Institute in 2000. His research interests include: bioelectrical signals by which cells communicate to serve the dynamic anatomical needs of the organism during development, regeneration, and cancer suppression; basal cognition and intelligence in diverse unconventional substrates; and top-down control of form and function across scales in biology. He moved his group to Tufts in 2009. In 2010, he also became an associate member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard Medical School.

A xenobot design discovered in simulation (left) and the deployed organism (right) built from frog skin (green) and heart muscle (red).

He is known for co-discovering xenobots, "living robots made from frog skin cells [that] can sense their environment". This research is focused on development of a multiplexed, microfluidic, Xenopus embryo culture system that will enable discovery of new drug targets and development of therapeutics when combined with multiomics and an integrated bioinformatics pipeline. This work was funded by the DARPA L2M program.

As of 2021, Levin's lab is working on synthetic biology applications of bioelectricity for cellular control; development of a bioinformatics of shape, AI tools for discovery and testing of algorithmic models linking molecular-genetic data to morphogenesis; using techniques from AI, computational neuroscience, and cognitive science to make models of morphogenesis.

In 2004, Levin's work on the molecular basis of left-right asymmetry (Cell 1995) was chosen by the journal Nature as a "Milestone in Developmental Biology in the last century". 2013 Distinguished Scholar Award, Tufts University 2012 Scientist of Vision Award, IFESS 2011 Vannevar Bush Endowed Chair appointment