How to Train Your Organoid
Understanding how biological neural networks learn is both a fundamental scientific question and an increasingly urgent practical one. Despite decades of work demonstrating that in vitro neural cultures can be modified through electrical stimulation, the field lacks both a shared experimental framework for biological learning, as well as results mirroring those of artificial neural networks. This dissertation presents the tools, experiments, and scientific findings developed while pursuing biological learning in a dish. The work begins with a hybrid soft-rigid robotic system where model-free reinforcement learning outperforms classical control, establishing a first learning environment framework and motivating the extension of reinforcement learning from artificial to biological substrates. Contributions to closed-loop optogenetic modulation of epileptiform activity in human brain slices and a cloud-connected platform for organoid-based neuroscience education provided foundational infr