I have a question regarding the possibility of utilising a matrix of actual living cells as "nodes" of a three dimensional biological cellular automata matrix where each cell acts like a state machine with multiple states, and the ability to broadcast their states to their neighbours, while also detecting the states of their neighbours and changing their internal states in response to changes in states of their neighbours.

Brains accomplish this with actual physical connections and branching networks of axons and dendrites and can have tens of thousands of connections to other nodes that can be physically distant.

Could it be done however without the physical "tendrils" that transmit and collect signals, and just use the waves of state changes propagating through a collection of "ordinary" cells? Could it be done while the cells are moving relative to one another within a solution, or would it only work in a solid matrix with stationary nodes?

I thought this forum might be my best chance at finding some people who might have some answers.

I have seen simple calculators built on Conway's Game of Life, and I think it has been shown that it is Turing complete.

I was wondering if there are methods to figuring out what rule sets are Turing complete, and if they are, designing algorithms for computation to be run on them, and estimating the "efficiency" and "computing power" of such systems.