VITAL: New Biology in the Age of AI

Knowing the components of a living system does not by itself explain how they generate function or how that function changes under perturbation. Here we propose VITAL (Virtualized, Verifiable, Integrated Twin Architecture for Life), an international research program to discover which measurable states, dynamic rules, and cross-scale interfaces are sufficient to predict biological function under specified conditions. Experiments would test which information a model must retain and whether predictions linked across scales agree with one another and with measured responses to the same intervention. We outline an islet test linking molecular features, cellular secretory responses, and collective biphasic insulin release. VITAL calls for a coordinated global effort to shape a new biology in the age of AI—one in which models and experiments work together to explain how biological function emerges, predict how it changes and guide interventions for human health.

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Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-11-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24028223
Primary Topic
Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
Type
preprint
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preprint

VITAL: New Biology in the Age of AI

Hiroki R. Ueda, Per Uhlén, Jianhua Xing, Abhay S. Pandit et al.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
preprint

VITAL: New Biology in the Age of AI

Hiroki R. Ueda, Per Uhlén, Jianhua Xing, Abhay S. Pandit, Yihan Lin, Liangyi Chen, Sylvain Baillet, Lan Jiang, Yun‐Gui Yang, Yujie Sun, Peter John Hunter, Shi‐Qiang Wang, Heping Cheng, Hans Blom, Jue Wang, Лей Ма, Xiaoman Li, Li Yang, Zichen Wang, Peijun Zhang, Jinwei Liu, Karthikha Indran, Steven Garan, Ian Urman, Sunwoo Kwak
preprint en

Abstract

Knowing the components of a living system does not by itself explain how they generate function or how that function changes under perturbation. Here we propose VITAL (Virtualized, Verifiable, Integrated Twin Architecture for Life), an international research program to discover which measurable states, dynamic rules, and cross-scale interfaces are sufficient to predict biological function under specified conditions. Experiments would test which information a model must retain and whether predictions linked across scales agree with one another and with measured responses to the same intervention. We outline an islet test linking molecular features, cellular secretory responses, and collective biphasic insulin release. VITAL calls for a coordinated global effort to shape a new biology in the age of AI—one in which models and experiments work together to explain how biological function emerges, predict how it changes and guide interventions for human health.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
University of Auckland (NZ), University of Pittsburgh (US), Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway (IE), Peking University (CN), Karolinska Institutet (SE), University of Oxford (GB), Peking University First Hospital (CN), McGill University (CA), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (SE), University of California, Berkeley (US)
Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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