Celebrating PiMLB’s Contribution to Groundbreaking Research in Biological Behavior

MaLGa Center is proud to announce that Agnese Seminara, a key member of our faculty and PI of our PIMLB unit (Physics-Informed Machine Learning for Biological Behaviour) co-authored a research article published last week in the journal Current Biology and recently featured in the Harvard Gazette, the New York Times and the Guardian. This recognition showcases the innovative work being done at our center and highlights the profound impact of Agnese’s computational approach on understanding biological behavior.

Agnese’s work on fish is conducted in close collaboration with a team of molecular biologists led by Nicholas Bellono at Harvard University and it is centered around sea robins, fish that walk on the seafloor using sensory appendages similar to legs. Their first publication, "Evolution of novel sensory organs in fish with legs", demonstrates that legs are an evolutionary novelty that enables fish to find prey buried in sand.

The study shows that using their novel sensory system, sea robins taste sand with their legs. Few species of sea robins even have papillae on the tips of their legs, similar to taste buds in our tongue. But this is not a common feature, for example the Mediterranean sea robin that Agnese bought from the fish market in Genoa and sent to Harvard for analysis lacks papillae. The study also shows that species with papillae can dig prey from underneath sand, whereas species without papillae cannot.

Agnese leads a team that leverages physics to develop computational models of behavior with a particular focus on navigation. The team recently traveled to Harvard University to acquire further data on sea robins navigation and is currently using reinforcement learning to study multisensory integration in this strange fish that senses chemicals both through its nose and legs. The collaboration exemplifies how hard core molecular biology can be combined with a computational approach grounded in physics to understand how this novel sensory organ enables fish to find prey buried in sand.

Agnese's work is generously supported by the European Research Council (ERC) through the ERC Consolidator Grant RIDING. This funding allows her to delve into new frontiers of research, combining physics, biology, and artificial intelligence to better understand complex natural phenomena. The recent media coverage serves as a testament to the innovative and impactful research led by Agnese Seminara and her team.

At MaLGa Center, we celebrate this remarkable achievement and are thrilled to see the broader scientific community and media acknowledge the valuable contributions of Agnese Seminara and our PIMLB unit. We look forward to further groundbreaking research that will continue to expand our understanding of biological systems through the power of machine learning.