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

25- 29 April, 2022

The Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy, King's, Building Campus, University of Edinburgh

Organised by:
Davide Michieletto (University of Edinburgh)
Elisabeth Agoritsas (EPFL, Lausanne) 
Gianmaria Falasco (University of Luxembourg)
Helena Massana-Cid (University of Rome)
​Mattia Marenda (University of Edinburgh)
Antonio Ortiz-Ambriz (University of Barcelona)
Valentina Ros (LPTMS Paris-Saclay)

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Sponsored by:

​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

Day One	Monday 25 April
13.00	Registration
Session One​	From DNA to materials
15.00	Grigory Tikhomirov (UC Berkeley) ​
15.30	Simon Weir (School of Physics, Edinburgh). ​
16.00	Anne Meeussen (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard)
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	Edgar Roldán (ICTP-Quantitative Life Science) ​
11.00	Refreshment Break
Session Three	Energy consumption in life
11.30	Nikta Fakhri (MIT, Boston) ​
12.00	Pierre Ronceray (Turing center for living systems, Marseille) ​
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	​Francesco Caravelli (Los Alamos National Lab) ​
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 (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	Pierfrancesco Urbani (IPhT Saclay)
10.00	Yasaman Bahri (Google Research)
10.30	Francesco Cagnetta (EPFL Lausanne) ​
11.oo	Refreshment Break
Session Nine	Bayesian methods for learning and biology
11.30	Aurélien Decelle (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
12.00	Marylou Gabrié (Flatiron Inst, New York) ​
12.30	Anna Paola Muntoni (Politecnico, Torino)
13.00	Lunch
Session Ten	From micro to macro-scopically active matter
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	Louise Jawerth (Biological, Soft and Complex systems, Leiden)
13.00	Summer school concluding remarks and end

​Registration and Abstract Submission

We have had an overwhelming response to 2022's summer school and have decided to close registration early as we process all the applications. If further spaces become available, we will notify the community and open registration again. Any questions, 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.