Self-organisation refers to the ability of systems made of a large number of independent agents to generate large scale spatio-temporal coherent structures with typical dimensions larger than those associated with each individual agent. By bringing together mathematicians and biologists, this workshop provided an overview of the various self-organisation mechanisms and the mathematical models by which they can be explained. The workshop aimed to make progress towards determination of the key biological mechanisms that enable self-organisation at each scale and across the scales, and towards the derivation of suitable universal mathematical models able to describe them across the scales.
The value of this workshop was twofold. For the biologists, it reinforced their link with mathematicians and enlarged the range of models that they can use to probe observed biological complexity. For the mathematicians, it broadened the repertoire of case studies they can use. Furthermore, the workshop suggested new systems where models are still preliminary or not existent and which may require the development of new mathematical frameworks. For the two communities, it offered the opportunity of building trans-disciplinary teams that can share knowledge, models and data.
Topics covered:
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Collective dynamics from the cell-scale to the population-scale
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Spatio-temporal pattern formation and self-organization
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Emergent networks
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Pattern formation in gene expression regulation, control of stochasticity, cell-fate decision-making
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Mechanical regulation of collective dynamics, particularly in cases coming from developmental biology and flocking behavior
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Data analysis and model calibration and data-model coupling
