SynBioBeta Speaker

Joel Dietz

Bioelectricity Nexus

Director

Joel Dietz is a systems architect, researcher, and early Ethereum contributor working at the intersection of computation, bioelectricity, and emergent intelligence. His work explores how complex systems, from decentralized networks to living tissues, coordinate behavior, store information, and express agency.As a researcher, Joel is particularly interested in bioelectricity: the ion-channel-based communication that allows cells to coordinate across tissues, guide morphogenesis, and participate in forms of basal cognition. His work engages with emerging questions around living machines, programmable life, xenobots, anthrobots, and the possibility of influencing biological form and behavior through cellular-scale information systems

Sessions Featuring

Joel

This Year

Breakout Session

•

3:30 PM

-

4:15 PM

Tools & Tech

Programming Life Through Bioelectricity

What if living systems are not only shaped by genes, but also by electrical patterns that coordinate cells, tissues, and collective behavior? This session explores the emerging field of bioelectricity: ion-channel-based communication that helps guide morphogenesis, regeneration, and cellular decision-making. Drawing on advances in live-tissue imaging and research into basal cognition, xenobots, anthrobots, and synthetic morphogenesis, Joel Dietz will examine how bioelectric signals may reveal a deeper layer of biological organization and agency. The presentation will look at where the field is heading, from understanding how cells coordinate into living structures to the possibility of designing, guiding, or “programming” life at the cellular and tissue level. At stake is a provocative new frontier: living machines, programmable organisms, and the implications of engineering agency in biological systems.

Featuring

Joel Dietz

Bioelectricity Nexus

Director

Breakout Session

•

3:30 PM

-

4:15 PM

Tools & Tech

Programming Life Through Bioelectricity

What if living systems are not only shaped by genes, but also by electrical patterns that coordinate cells, tissues, and collective behavior? This session explores the emerging field of bioelectricity: ion-channel-based communication that helps guide morphogenesis, regeneration, and cellular decision-making. Drawing on advances in live-tissue imaging and research into basal cognition, xenobots, anthrobots, and synthetic morphogenesis, Joel Dietz will examine how bioelectric signals may reveal a deeper layer of biological organization and agency. The presentation will look at where the field is heading, from understanding how cells coordinate into living structures to the possibility of designing, guiding, or “programming” life at the cellular and tissue level. At stake is a provocative new frontier: living machines, programmable organisms, and the implications of engineering agency in biological systems.

Featuring

Joel Dietz

Bioelectricity Nexus

Director

Previous Speakers Include