In order to participate in the seminar, on April 9 after 4:45 pm (UTC+7) you should connect to the Zoom conference via the following link https://zoom.us/j/89776462466 or manually using the Zoom conference ID 897 7646 2466.The problem of creating a complex multi-level computer model of a living organism, including its nervous system, is considered as a new promising direction at the intersection of neurobiology, biophysics, cybernetics and computer modeling. The most likely contender for the role of the first "virtual organism" is considered to be a thoroughly studied invertebrate, the nematode C. elegans, whose nervous system is represented by only 302 neurons. The task of creating a virtual organism on its basis seems to be a necessary step on the way to more complex nervous systems. The talk discusses issues related to three-dimensional computer modeling of the biomechanics of movement of C. elegans in various environments, as well as modeling the activity of its nervous, sensory and muscular systems. We present our results both in the development of specialized software for simulating the body of a virtual organism (equipped with a muscular system and capable of registering mechanosensory signals) and its movement in a three-dimensional environment with effective physical laws, and in the field of modeling neural activity, taking into account electrophysiological features of C. elegans. The simulator supports calculations of the dynamics of an incompressible fluid, elastic objects, muscle fibers and waterproof films, on the basis of which both the body itself and its environment are constructed. To improve performance, parallel computing on a GPU using OpenCL is used. Since 2011, work in this area of research has been carried out in collaboration with the non-commercial international project OpenWorm (www.openworm.org), the goal of which is biologically reliable modeling of C. elegans systems and the creation of the world's first virtual organism on its basis.
