{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]],"date-time":"2026-10-04T04:54:04Z","timestamp":1791089644731,"version":"4.1.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]]},"group-title":"Synthetic Biology","reference-count":37,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790726400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["GM118167"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GM118167"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["DBI-1548297"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DBI-1548297"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/021nxhr62","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>From flocking birds to swarming insects, collective motion enables groups to accomplish tasks beyond the capabilities of individuals. These behaviors emerge from local interactions among group members, but the interaction rules that organize collectives at the cellular scale remain poorly understood, in part because they are difficult to manipulate experimentally. Here we develop a cell-machine interface that enables us to rewrite the rules of collective migration. Cell-cell interaction rules are specified in software and implemented in living cells through real-time computer vision and closed-loop optogenetic control. Using a single engineered cell line, we program cells to self-organize into flocks, to propagate regenerative signal relays that recapitulate the interaction logic of immune-cell swarms, and to collectively navigate guidance cues that individual cells cannot. Our work shows that altering simple rules of cell-cell interaction is sufficient to generate new emergent collective capabilities. This approach provides an experimental framework for discovering the organizational principles of multicellular coordination and designing synthetic collectives with capabilities beyond those of their individual members.<\/jats:p>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Abstract Figure<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:fig id=\"ufig1\" position=\"float\" fig-type=\"figure\" orientation=\"portrait\">\n                    <jats:graphic xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"753501v1_ufig1\" position=\"float\" orientation=\"portrait\"\/>\n                  <\/jats:fig>\n                <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.09.29.753501","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T11:10:21Z","timestamp":1790766621000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From flocks to swarms: rewriting the rules of collective cell migration"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4163-032X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicholas R.","family":"Martin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nolan","family":"Brown","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics, University of California, Merced, California, United States of America"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-7913-1428","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roman","family":"Gaidarov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-1924-3451","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Isabella","family":"Wischik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America"},{"name":"Tetrad Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2611-0139","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ariel","family":"Amir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9369-8780","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ajay","family":"Gopinathan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics, University of California, Merced, California, United States of America"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1778-6543","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Orion D.","family":"Weiner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026100321250882000_2026.09.29.753501v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physrep.2012.03.004","article-title":"Collective motion","volume":"517","year":"2012","journal-title":"Phys. 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