Michael Levin received dual B.S. degrees (computer science, biology), followed by a Ph.D. (Harvard University). He currently holds the Vannevar Bush chair, and directs the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University.

Levin is interested in the mechanisms and algorithms of diverse intelligence – cognition in natural and unconventional embodiments.  His theoretical work focuses on using tools from behavioral neuroscience and computer science to build computational models of the scaling of cognition operating in physiological, anatomical, and behavioral spaces. Using both natural (evolved) model systems and novel synthetic proto-organisms, the lab seeks an understanding of how goal-directed behavior and cognitive function arise on embryogenetic and evolutionary timescales.

Their empirical work studies bioelectric communication in all tissues (not just neurons) as the medium of the collective intelligence of cells during morphogenesis. Developing tools to read and write the bioelectric states in vivo, they leverage top-down controls of decision-making for practical applications in regenerative medicine of birth defects, traumatic injury, cancer, and bioengineering.