Anya Vostinar, assistant professor of computer science, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (#2414125) in support of her collaborative research project, “Leveraging symbiotic co-evolution for improved problem solving,” which aims to improve evolutionary algorithms and better control the evolution of microbial symbiotic relationships in biological laboratories. Evolutionary algorithms are a powerful tool for solving many important computational problems, such as robot navigation in complex environments, automated analysis of medical data, and design of scientific instruments. While these algorithms have been highly effective, even state-of-the-art applications neglect processes believed to be key to the evolution of complex biological life, such as co-evolution between species living in close association with each other (i.e. symbionts).
Together with Emily Dolson, assistant professor at Michigan State University, and Alexander Lalejini, assistant professor at Grand Valley University, Prof. Vostinar will implement and systematically evaluate the effect of six forms of symbiosis in a computational platform and test how these effects change under three common environmental variations to determine which combinations of symbiosis and environment have the most potential to solve real-world problems in both computational and biological contexts. Throughout the project, the research team will mentor ten undergraduates and one graduate student as they conduct research at the intersection of computer science and biology.