2515214
Project Grant
Overview
Grant Description
EFRI Begin OI: Bringing Reward to Embodied Organoid Intelligence
Organoid Intelligence (OI) is an emerging field that aims to harness the computational power of brain organoids for biocomputing and biomedical research, seeking to generate computing devices with substantially lower energy requirements than conventional digital electronics.
Brain organoids are lab-grown brain tissues, each about the size of a small grain of sand, that can naturally form networks.
This project seeks to incorporate reward-based learning mechanisms into brain organoids to enable more complex and adaptive behaviors and increase training efficiency.
By connecting the organoids to tiny electronic shells and using chemical signals, the research team will teach them to play simple video games and guide small robots.
Throughout the project, bioethicists will monitor every step to ensure responsible and ethical conduct of research and to keep the public informed about both benefits and concerns.
The work will train multiple students, create open-source hardware and software, and launch community courses that invite citizen scientists to learn about biological computing.
Success of this project could pave the way for computers that use a million times less energy than today’s artificial-intelligence (AI) systems and open fresh paths for studying disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
This project seeks to advance organoid intelligence through engineering three-tier brain assembloids that couple cortical, dopaminergic, and striatal regions inside self-folded shell micro-electro-fluidic arrays (SMEFAs).
These interfaces can deliver millisecond-precision electrical stimulation and micromolar-resolution neuromodulator gradients while recording three-dimensional neural activity.
The central hypothesis of this research is that reward-modulated spike-time-dependent plasticity (R-STDP) will enable data-efficient, continual reinforcement learning in biological networks.
The goal of Thread 1 is to develop standardized culture protocols and validate long-term SMEFA stability.
Under Thread 2, real-time closed-loop software will be created that maps environment observations to stimulation codes and decodes action signals from high-density recordings, benchmarking OI against deep-reinforcement learning baselines on curricula of Atari-like tasks and embodied robot control.
In Thread 3, an experimental neuroethics program will be embedded that defines measurable capacities (sentience, agency, evaluative cognition) and implements tiered safeguards in any case of evidence of consciousness.
This project will explore the fundamental mechanisms of biological learning and is expected to develop new biocomputing architectures and to create a framework for experimental neuroethics.
The work should position OI as a transformative, sustainable architecture for next-generation adaptive systems.
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.
Subawards are planned for this award.
Organoid Intelligence (OI) is an emerging field that aims to harness the computational power of brain organoids for biocomputing and biomedical research, seeking to generate computing devices with substantially lower energy requirements than conventional digital electronics.
Brain organoids are lab-grown brain tissues, each about the size of a small grain of sand, that can naturally form networks.
This project seeks to incorporate reward-based learning mechanisms into brain organoids to enable more complex and adaptive behaviors and increase training efficiency.
By connecting the organoids to tiny electronic shells and using chemical signals, the research team will teach them to play simple video games and guide small robots.
Throughout the project, bioethicists will monitor every step to ensure responsible and ethical conduct of research and to keep the public informed about both benefits and concerns.
The work will train multiple students, create open-source hardware and software, and launch community courses that invite citizen scientists to learn about biological computing.
Success of this project could pave the way for computers that use a million times less energy than today’s artificial-intelligence (AI) systems and open fresh paths for studying disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
This project seeks to advance organoid intelligence through engineering three-tier brain assembloids that couple cortical, dopaminergic, and striatal regions inside self-folded shell micro-electro-fluidic arrays (SMEFAs).
These interfaces can deliver millisecond-precision electrical stimulation and micromolar-resolution neuromodulator gradients while recording three-dimensional neural activity.
The central hypothesis of this research is that reward-modulated spike-time-dependent plasticity (R-STDP) will enable data-efficient, continual reinforcement learning in biological networks.
The goal of Thread 1 is to develop standardized culture protocols and validate long-term SMEFA stability.
Under Thread 2, real-time closed-loop software will be created that maps environment observations to stimulation codes and decodes action signals from high-density recordings, benchmarking OI against deep-reinforcement learning baselines on curricula of Atari-like tasks and embodied robot control.
In Thread 3, an experimental neuroethics program will be embedded that defines measurable capacities (sentience, agency, evaluative cognition) and implements tiered safeguards in any case of evidence of consciousness.
This project will explore the fundamental mechanisms of biological learning and is expected to develop new biocomputing architectures and to create a framework for experimental neuroethics.
The work should position OI as a transformative, sustainable architecture for next-generation adaptive systems.
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.
Subawards are planned for this award.
Awardee
Funding Goals
THE GOAL OF THIS FUNDING OPPORTUNITY, "EMERGING FRONTIERS IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION", IS IDENTIFIED IN THE LINK: HTTPS://WWW.NSF.GOV/PUBLICATIONS/PUB_SUMM.JSP?ODS_KEY=NSF24508
Grant Program (CFDA)
Awarding / Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Baltimore,
Maryland
21218-2608
United States
Geographic Scope
Single Zip Code
The Johns Hopkins University was awarded
Project Grant 2515214
worth $1,999,508
from Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities in August 2025 with work to be completed primarily in Baltimore Maryland United States.
The grant
has a duration of 4 years and
was awarded through assistance program 47.041 Engineering.
The Project Grant was awarded through grant opportunity EMERGING FRONTIERS IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (EFRI): Biocomputing through EnGINeering Organoid Intelligence (BEGIN OI).
Status
(Ongoing)
Last Modified 9/10/25
Period of Performance
8/1/25
Start Date
7/31/29
End Date
Funding Split
$2.0M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$2.0M
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Transaction History
Modifications to 2515214
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
2515214
SAI Number
None
Award ID URI
SAI EXEMPT
Awardee Classifications
Private Institution Of Higher Education
Awarding Office
490704 OFFICE OF EMERGING FRONTIERS AND
Funding Office
490704 OFFICE OF EMERGING FRONTIERS AND
Awardee UEI
FTMTDMBR29C7
Awardee CAGE
5L406
Performance District
MD-07
Senators
Benjamin Cardin
Chris Van Hollen
Chris Van Hollen
Modified: 9/10/25