Cells, Energetics, and Information: New Perspectives on Nonequilibrium Systems

Once limited to the understanding of proteins and membranes, the field of biological physics is expanding its aims to a more comprehensive understanding of cellular processes. Beside tracking individual cellular reactions and describing systems at the molecular level, we start seeking for overarching organizing principles governing cellular dynamics. A main ingredient underlying these principles is thermodynamics. In this perspective, cells are seen as non-equilibrium physical systems that operate at finite temperature and seek to accurately and rapidly respond to their external environment while minimizing the energy they consume

Recent progresses in non-equilibrium thermodynamics, in particular in stochastic thermodynamics, provide the theoretical background to formulate these principles. At the same time, advances in experimental techniques, both in biophysics and molecular biology, permit to experimentally test these principles. A growing community of scientists with different backgrounds is forming around these research questions.

This workshop will bring together biophysicists, statistical physicists and molecular biologists that aim at understanding energetics and information processing in cells. The goal of the workshop is to present the state of the art in this exciting interdisciplinary field and provide an informal, interacting forum where future directions and perspective will be discussed.

For further details, please visit the workshop's website. 

OIST is deeply committed to the advancement of women in science, in Japan and worldwide. Women are strongly encouraged to apply.