Project description
Genes as nudgers, not directors
In the world of biology, life has long been perceived as demanding relentless effort, with genes acting as meticulous directors. However, what if life is not as hardworking as we have always assumed? What if genes are more like nudgers than taskmasters? The ERC-funded AssemblingLife project explores self-assembly, the spontaneous creation of intricate patterns and structures, much like Lego bricks forming a fortress without builders. This innovative approach is revolutionising our understanding of living systems. AssemblingLife is set to construct a new theoretical framework in the philosophy of science, redefining genetic causation as a nudging force in self-assembly processes. This project is expected to reshape our understanding of life, offering fresh insights and conceptual tools.
Objective
Biology invites us to understand life as “hard work”. Living beings are mainly viewed as systems requiring the constant input of energy and the detailed regulation by genetic material. These ideas of life very much influence the general understanding of living systems, and, particularly interesting for this project, it influences current philosophy of science accounts of the understanding and explanation of living processes.
But what if life is much less “hard work” than often presented? And what if genes should be understood as “nudgers” rather than as “directing” living processes?
Self-assembly is the spontaneous formation of complex patterns and structure. It can be visualized as a pile of lego bricks turning into a Ninjago fortress on its own. There are no lego-builders. The parts “self-assemble”, possibly as a result of chemical and physical processes working between and on the parts. Recent nanoscience research efforts at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and material science, increasingly utilize self-assembly processes in the development of new materials, technologies and understanding of living systems.
AssemblingLife will, on an interdisciplinary basis, build a new theoretical framework withing the philosophy of science for understanding and explaining life, building on the increasing focus and knowledge about self-assembly processes that carry the potential to shift our view of life. The project will provide a new understanding of genetic causation starting from the idea of genes as “nudging” self-assembly processes rather than as providing detailed regulation, and it will develop new theory of scientific explanation that will account for the observation that self-assembly processes do not behave like classical mechanisms or interventions targets. AssemblingLife plan for contributing novel and needed theory and conceptual tools both to the philosophy of science and to the empirical life sciences.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
0313 Oslo
Norway