Physics of Life Summer School 2022:
Interdisciplinary Challenges: from Non-equilibrium Physics to Life Sciences


​Purpose

​Non-equilibrium processes play important roles at many length scales, from controlling chromatin interactions within a cell nucleus to governing the collective dynamics of fish schools. This Summer School will bring together early career researchers and students working across these scales. By identifying common insights between disciplines, this meeting aims to promote collaborations and knowledge exchange among young researchers working in the Physical and Life Sciences. This summer school represents one of the two Summer Schools that will be delivered by PoLNET3 and is being delivered with the support of the Higgs Centre. 

Sessions and Format

This school will include talks given by early career researchers, as well as Q&A sessions and plenty of time for open discussions, aimed at creating a sense of community and allowing interaction with the speakers. Each participant is invited to present a poster and to contribute to the small-group discussions taking place after the sessions of talks. The chosen topics cover a broad spectrum of different research areas at the boundary between biology and physics, in which non-equilibrium physics plays a major role: this includes Biophysics, Cell Motion and Active Matter, Bioenergetics and Non Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics, Machine Learning in Physics and Biology and Disordered Materials. While diverse, these topics are all interconnected with each other. Speakers will be asked to make their presentations well accessible outside of their specific field, providing a broad overview of the different topics well-suited for a school audience. The complementing discussion sessions will further emphasise this exchange of knowledge across different disciplines. This school offers a unique opportunity for participants to discuss and create new interdisciplinary collaborations, fostering exchange of ideas and competences between the next generation of group leaders.​

Who should attend?

This school is specifically tailored to bring together early career researchers and students working on a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary topics under the overarching theme of non-equilibrium physics, while fostering the strengthening of a friendly and supportive community of young researchers.

Provisional Programme

Sessions and Speakers

​The lectures and Q and A sessions will be held in Lecture Theatre A, in James Clerk Maxwell building in King’s buildings, see: 
https://goo.gl/maps/hWsUh392uS4yg3Gm8
 
The poster sessions on Monday and Wednesday will be at Teviot House (ex student union), see:  
https://goo.gl/maps/C5wy9ewTdxZkuTUo6
Day One 
Monday 25 April
13.00
Lunch and Registration (outside Lecture Theatre A ​James Clerk Maxwell building)
14.30
Session One: From DNA to materials 
Intro from Davide Michieletto (University of Edinburgh) 
15.00
Grigory Tikhomirov (UC Berkeley) ​
15.30
Erica del Grosso  ​(University of Rome Tor Vergata)
16.00
Simon Weir (School of Physics, Edinburgh)
16.30
Poster session and social event 
Day Two
Tuesday 26 April
Session Two
Response, control and stability
9.30
Nahuel Freitas (Department of Physics and Materials Science, Luxembourg)
10.00
Sara Dal Cengio (Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Physics, Grenoble-Alpes) ​
10.30
Roman Belousov (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) 
11.00
Refreshment Break
Session Three
Energy consumption in life
11.30
Giulio Ragazzon (University of Strasbourg & CNRS)
12.00
Demian Levis (University of Barcelona)​
12.30
Efe Ilker (Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems)
13.00
Lunch
Session Four
Disordered Materials
15.00
Lisa Tran (Department of Physics, Utrecht University)​​
15.30
Alice Thorneywork (Dept of Physics, Cambridge)
16.00
Nirvana Caballero​ (University of Geneva)
16.30
Q&A Session
Day Three
Wednesday 27 April
Session Five
From single cell to morphogenesis
9.30
David Brückner (IST Austria, Vienna)
10.00
Fabio Giavazzi (Dept. of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, Milan) ​
10.30
Silvia Grigolon (Sorbonne, Paris)
11.00
Refreshment break
Session six
​Tissues as disordered materials
11.30
Matthias Merkel (Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseilles)
12.00
Varda Faghir Hagh (James Frank Institute, Chicago)
12.30
Peter Morse (Chemistry, Duke)
13.00
Lunch
Session Seven
Active viscoelastic materials ​
15.00
Daniel A. Matoz-Fernandez (Physics of Living Matter Group, Warsaw) ​
15.30
Laura Alvarez-Frances​ (Dept. of Materials, ETH)
16.00
Berta Martinez-Prat (Dept. de Química Física, Barcelona)
16.30
Poster Session/Social Event
Day Four 
Thursday 28 April
Session Eight
ML: scaling theory and algorithmic transitions
9.30
Antonio Sclocchi (EPFL Lausanne) ​
10.00
Francesco Cagnetta (EPFL Lausanne) ​
10.30
Aurélien Decelle (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
11.oo
Refreshment Break
Session Nine
Bayesian methods for learning and biology
​11.30
Anna Paola Muntoni (Politecnico, Torino)
12.00
​Pierre Ronceray (Turing center for living systems, Marseille)
12.30
Lunch
​Session Ten
From micro to macro-scopically active matter
14.30
Gaspard Junot (University of Barcelona)
15.00
Alessandro Manacorda (University of Luxembourg) ​
15.30
Stefania Melillo (CNR, Rome) ​
16.00
Alexandre Nicolas (Université de Lyon & Explain)
16.30
Q and A Session
Day Five
Friday 29 April
Session Eleven
Emergent behaviours in biology/biophysics
9.30
Linus Schumacher (Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Edinburgh)
10.00
Lindsay Kerr (Institute of Genetic and Cancer, Edinburgh)
10.30
Alex Payne-Dwyer (University of York)
11.00
Refreshment Break
Session Twelve
Intracellular phase condensates
11.30
Thomas Quail (Max Plank Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics)
12.00
Jorine Eeftens (Radboud University Nijmegen) ​
12.30
Final remarks and end
13.00
Lunch


​Registration

The registration period for this summer school is now closed.  Any questions relating to this event, please email: k.h.baker@dur.ac.uk. 

Directions

The meeting will take place at the University of Edinburgh in the James Clerk Maxwell Building, Kings Buildings. 15 minutes by bus from Edinburgh city centre. Details on getting from the City Centre to JCMB here. A map of the Kings Buildings campus here. Edinburgh is well served by trains and planes.

Local Accommodation

Please find the file below which lists local accommodation options. 
edinburgh_accommodation_hotels_guest_houses__002_.docx
File Size: 22 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Poster abstract submission

This area is for school registrants who wish to present a poster at the upcoming school. Please submit your poster title and abstract by 15 April 2022 to allow organisers to share with all attendees, speakers and organisers. Please note, poster boards take A0 size posters so the maximum size is 84.1 x 118.8 cm and all posters should be portrait not landscape. 

Funded by:                                                                                                 Managed bY: