[ExI] Fwd: cryonics vs. chemopreservation
Rafal Smigrodzki
rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com
Sun Jan 13 22:48:11 UTC 2013
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 5:47 PM
Subject: Re: [ExI] cryonics vs. chemopreservation
To: Joshua Job <joshjob42 at gmail.com>
On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 3:14 PM, Joshua Job <joshjob42 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think one of the reasons Dalrymple is not using chemopreservation is
> because we simply don't know enough about neurons to look at them and build
> a model of their behavior. So he is going to essentially watch the worms
> think and use an algorithm that builds a functional model of each synapse
> based on the observed behavior (combined with all available biophysical
> data).
### I think this is a very important and valuable project but what I
am proposing is more modest: Just a proof that the memories of a
pickled worm can be read, not a simulation of a whole worm.
The olfactory memories of a worm seem to be mediated in part by
serotonergic transmission in sensory interneurons. In the initial part
of the project you can zero in on the specific neurons and synapses
involved and determine which proteins and which post-translational
modifications, if any, are important. Once you know the material
determinants of the olfactory engram you can work on measuring them in
preserved worms. The final part would be taking a hundred worms,
teaching them something, preserving and then having a blinded
researcher measure their engrams and separate them from a control
group. There would be no need to simulate the nervous system in
general, no need to work out the effectors, or understand all the
other things that a worm can do - this means you would not have to
section and scan whole worms, but rather concentrate on a hopefully
very small number of sections, allowing larger numbers of worms to be
tested. You just want to see what makes your specially treated worm a
learned individual standing out from every Tom, Dick and Harry out
there.
This might be doable as a PhD thesis and it would have a nice ring to
it - imagine the title "Post-mortem reading of olfactory memories in
C. elegans". If your thesis adviser is well-regarded in the field, you
might shoot for Nature or Science!
Rafal
--
Rafal Smigrodzki, MD-PhD
Senior Scientist,
Gencia Corporation
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