Patent ID: 7734423

Claim:
A method in a suitably programmed computer system for modeling virtual biological tissue, the method comprising: receiving modeling information by the suitably programmed computer system, wherein the modeling information includes one or more virtual environmental parameters and one or more virtual genes, and wherein the one or more virtual genes define one or more distinct virtual genomes; in response to the modeling information, generating a virtual environment based on the environmental parameters, and generating one or more virtual cells in the virtual environment, the one or more virtual cells each comprising an individual distinct virtual genome, wherein the individual distinct virtual genome is configured to interact with the virtual environment, and wherein the individual distinct virtual genome and the environmental parameters are configured to be modified by genetic operations; running an ontogeny engine to develop multicellular individuals from the one or more virtual cells, according to biological primitives specified by each of the distinct virtual genomes, during exposure to the virtual environment; evaluating and selecting one or more of the multicellular individuals according to a fitness criterion; modifying at least one of the distinct virtual genomes of the selected multicellular individuals and one or more virtual environmental parameters; running the ontogeny engine to develop a next generation of multicellular individuals; and evaluating a behavior of each of the next generation of multicellular individuals and identifying next generation multicellular individuals that exhibit adaptive emergent functionality in response to a stimulus.