Oscillator Networks from Reaction-Diffusion Media
PI: Seth Fraden
Inspired by the autonomous nervous system, we seek to develop synthetic systems that create spatio-temporal patterns from oscillatory sub-units. In Engineering reaction–diffusion networks with properties of neural tissue we demonstrated that the oscillation patterns of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction could sculpted into a functional network using microfluidics. Such a material could lay the foundation for the control layer in soft-robotics.
I am currently studying the relationship between network topology and the multiplicity of dynamic steady states that oscillator networks can exhibit.
(Right) Dual column central pattern generator modeled after the lamprey eel spine. The network features columns that propagate signals through excitatory interactions. The columns themselves are linked through inhibitory coupling, this drives each of the columns out of phase. The designed stable attractor of the system is therefore left-right-left-right firing pattern.
(First panel) Finite element simulation of the BZ reaction. The BZ media is confined to the square wells and channels, the surrounding media is selectively permeable to the inhibitor, Bromine, whose concentration field is shown. Snapshots are spaced one oscillation period apart to show the beginning of the shift towards anti-phase synchrony.
(Second Panel) Microscopy image of the completed microfluidic network, the chemical state of the well is indicated by a color change (appears bright in the image).