QLS

Europe/Rome 2017-07-03 08:00:00 2017-07-07 22:00:00 Joint ICGEB-ICTP-APCTP Workshop on Systems Biology and Molecular Economy of Microbial Communities | (smr 3129) DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING APPLICATIONS: 31 MARCH 2017 The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in collaboration with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) and the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP) is organizing the Workshop on Systems Biology and Molecular Economy of Microbial Communities, to be held in Trieste from 3 to 7 July 2017. Every living cell needs to solve a complex resource allocation problem. Most microbial cells typically address this task within a spatially structured, variable environment, where a myriad of different cells are concurrently allocating their own resources. Will we ever understand the dynamics of these communities, their diversity and stability? A fundamental theme in the study of human-associated microbial communities, the tension between metabolic requirements of individual cells and the global molecular budget of a whole cell population is at the heart of open biomedical challenges. The key element in addressing these questions is their multiscale nature: mutations and regulation happen at the level of individual genes; metabolic processes involve the balance of cell-scale pathways; biomedically relevant phenotypes depend on the interactions among multiple cells in heterogenous environments. The Workshop aims at bringing together researchers interested in the principles underlying microbial community dynamics and organization, both from an experimental and a mathematical/computational perspective. Participants will compare different methodologies to better integrate quantitative approaches and data gathering efforts, including the creative use of new mathematical tools, high performance computing algorithms and new ways of integrating experimental measurements and computational models. Topics: Ecological and evolutionary dynamics / Ecological models of microbial communities; Population and evolutionary dynamics; Game theoretic approaches to cooperation, cross-feeding and competition Spatio-temporal dynamics of microbial consortia Synthetic biology and synthetic ecology General Equilibrium Economics of metabolic production in microbial communities Stoichiometric models of metabolism, from genomes to ecosystems Cell-to-cell signaling and quorum sensing Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic methods for communities Host-microbe interaction / Microbe-host interaction (e.g. antibiotic resistance); Human microbiome, systemic stability and disease; Plant resistance); Human microbiome, systemic stability and disease; Plant microbiome, parasites and diseases Grants A limited number of grants are available to support the attendance of selected participants, with priority given to participants from developing countries (see list here) and ICGEB Member State nationals (see list here). There are no registration fees. The Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP) supports a limited number of participants from the Asia Pacific Region. Specifically, participants holding nationality of APCTP Member Countries (see list here), particularly those at the early stages of their career, can apply for grants to support their participation. Grants can partially cover the airfare and/or local expenses. Participants from non-member countries are not qualified for the grant in principle, but a limited exception may be considered if participants are affiliated at APCTP partner institutes (see list here). ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 3 Jul 2017 - 7 Jul 2017

Europe/Rome 2017-07-17 08:00:00 2017-07-21 22:00:00 Workshop on Physical Virology | (smr 3134) Photo credit: G. Polles http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003331 NEW DEADLINE for applicants not requesting financial support: 31 MAY 2017 Physical Virology is a nascent discipline involving the development and application of physics-based quantitative methods for characterization of various aspects of the "life cycle" of viruses. This area of research has been rapidly growing for at least two reasons. First, the "molecular minimality" of viruses implies that their life cycle must rely on passive physical mechanisms to an extent that has no parallel in bacterial or eukaryotic cells, which have a more complex organization. Secondly, experimental techniques are nowadays capable of probing the living and inanimate matter at the nanoscale, thus providing an unprecedented insight into the structural and dynamical behaviour of viruses. This workshop aims at providing a state-of-the-art overview of the topic by bringing together theorists and experimentalists to present and discuss the latest advancements. The workshop will particularly focus on: - the structure and self-assembly of viral capsids; - the nature and energetics of packaging of the genome; - the dynamics and nanoscale interactions responsible for viral genome delivery; - the systemic spreading of viral infections, and - the adaptive response to evolutionary pressure of the highly optimized viral genome   Invited Speakers include:   A. BEN-SHAUL, The Hebrew U.  Jerusalem B. BOTHNER, Montana State U. R. BRUINSMA, UCLA M. CASTELNOVO, ENS Lyon M. CIEPLAK, IFPAN, Warsaw P. J. DE PABLO GÓMEZ, U. Autónoma de Madrid T. DOUGLAS, Indiana U. B. DRAGNEA, Indiana U. A. EVILEVITCH, Carnegie Mellon U. W. M. GELBART, UCLA A. Y. GROSBERG, NYU M. HAGAN, Brandeis U. G. INDELICATO, The U. of York P. G. LEIMAN, U. of Texas M. G. MATEU, U. Autónoma de Madrid E. R. MAY, U. of Connecticut T. MUKHOPADHYAY, Indiana U. M. MUTHUKUMAR, U. of Massachusetts A. PARMEGGIANI, U. Montpellier II A. REIN, NIH S. B. ROCHAL, Southern Fed. U., Rostov-on-Don W. ROOS, U. of Groningen I. ROUZINA, U. of Minnesota G. TRESSET, U. Paris-Sud I. TSVETKOVA, Indiana U. L. TUBIANA, U. of Vienna R. TWAROCK, The U. of York C. UETRECHT, Leibniz Inst. for Experimental Virology, Hamburg P. VAN DER SCHOOT, TU Eindhoven   ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 17 Jul 2017 - 21 Jul 2017

Europe/Rome 2017-07-24 08:00:00 2017-07-28 22:00:00 Conference on Frontiers in Olfaction | (smr 3135) NEW DEADLINE for applicants requesting financial support: 7 MAY 2017 Olfaction is the final frontier of our senses - the one that is still almost completely mysterious to us. Despite extensive genetic and perceptual data, and a strong push to solve the neural coding problem, fundamental questions about the sense of smell remain unresolved. The task of olfaction is challenging; it depends critically on the ability to rapidly detect, identify, categorize, and prepare for memory storage myriad odorants that vary in molecular structure and concentration. Yet, olfactory processing is achieved by relatively few layers of neurons, with anatomical structures and physiological mechanisms that appear repeatedly in widely divergent species. Thus, a study of olfaction offers the promise of insight into a successful and perhaps optimal biological algorithm for processing complex information.   Driven by novel experimental techniques, including next-generation sequencing, optogenetics, and imaging/recordings in awake behaving animals, the experimental data is undergoing an explosive growth. At the same time, a variety of computational and theoretical models ranging from labelled-line to spike coding have been proposed to explain the data. This workshop will bring together researchers in physics, chemistry, biochemistry, computer science, behavioural sciences, neurophysiology, basic biology, and genomics in an attempt to evaluate the current state of the field. Topics: Olfactory coding and perception Olfactory search and algorithms Experimental and theoretical neuroscience of olfaction Invited Speakers: F. Albeanu, CSHL L. Buck,  Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center A. Carleton, Geneva U. M. Dickinson, CALTECH S. Firestein, Columbia U. A. Fleischmann, College de France, Paris B. Hansson, MPI Jena C. A. Greer, Yale T. Holy, Washington U. in St. Louis A. Koulakov, CSHL P.-M. Lledo, Institut Pasteur, Paris S. Lomvardas, Columbia U. P. Mombaerts, MPI Frankfurt D. Rinberg, NYU D. Rokni,  The Hebrew U. A. Schaefer, The Francis Crick Institute A. Seminara, U. Nice Sophia Antipolis N. Sobel, Weizmann Institute of Science P. Szyszka, Konstanz U. L. Vosshall, The Rockefeller U. T. Wyatt, U. of Oxford   Workshop secretariat: smr3135@ictp.it Grants A limited number of grants are available to support the attendance of selected participants, with priority given to participants from developing countries (see list here). There is no registration fee.   To facilitate participation of younger scientists to the conference ECRO will support 2 travel grants for students not supported by ICTP. Details for application documents and submission can be found here: http://www.ecro-online.com/108/GRANTS/ecro-european_chemoreception_research_organisation-ecro_online/general_rules/   ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 24 Jul 2017 - 28 Jul 2017

Europe/Rome 2017-12-04 07:00:00 2017-12-22 21:00:00 Winter School on Quantitative Systems Biology | (smr 3162) Apply at: https://register.icts.res.in/program/qsb2017 Deadline: 1 July 2017   Bangalore - India ICTP pio@ictp.it 4 Dec 2017 - 22 Dec 2017