Learning via mechanosensitivity and activity in cytoskeletal networks

Deb S. Banerjee; Martin J. Falk; Margaret L Gardel; Aleksandra M. Walczak; Thierry Mora; Suriyanarayanan Vaikuntanathan

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arXiv · 2504.15107

Learning via mechanosensitivity and activity in cytoskeletal networks

Deb S. Banerjee·Martin J. Falk·Margaret L Gardel·Aleksandra M. Walczak·Thierry Mora·Suriyanarayanan Vaikuntanathan

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Abstract

In this work we show how a network inspired by a coarse-grained description of actomyosin cytoskeleton can learn - in a contrastive learning framework - from environmental perturbations if it is endowed with mechanosensitive proteins and motors. Our work is a proof of principle for how force-sensitive proteins and molecular motors can form the basis of a general strategy to learn in biological systems. Our work identifies a minimal biologically plausible learning mechanism and also explores its implications for commonly occuring phenomenolgy such as adaptation and homeostatis.

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Deb S. Banerjee, Martin J. Falk, Margaret L Gardel, Aleksandra M. Walczak, Thierry Mora, Suriyanarayanan Vaikuntanathan. 2025-04-21. Learning via mechanosensitivity and activity in cytoskeletal networks. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.15107

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