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17th EMBL International PhD Symposium: Randomness and Variability shaping biology

When 22 Oct 2015 08:00 AM to
24 Oct 2015 05:00 PM
Where EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
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17th EMBL International PhD Symposium: Randomness and Variability shaping biology

When: 22-24 October 2015

Where: EMBL Heidelberg, Germany

We are pleased to announce the 17th European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) International PhD Symposium!

This year’s Symposium, “Just by Chance? – Randomness and Variability Shaping Biology”, will explore the importance of randomness and variability in biology, and how living systems navigate the fine line between order and chaos in order to survive and thrive.

Living systems must robustly maintain their internal organization, yet remain flexible to respond and adapt to the challenges of a dynamic environment. The balance between these opposing requirements shapes biological systems across all scales, from molecules to ecosystems. The investigation of this balance between optimization and variability is central to modern biological research.

The symposium will highlight the role of stochasticity in biology, touching upon topics such as the role of noise, thermal fluctuations and mutations. At the same time, it will focus on how living systems can both exploit or counteract this intrinsic unpredictability in phenomena such as symmetry breaking, evolutionary adaptation or the establishment of robust error correction systems and feedback controls.


In order to best cover this diverse and multifaceted topic, we will host top speakers including Pau Bernado from the CBS Montpellier, Peter Fraser of the Babraham Institute, Thomas Gilbert from the University of Copenhagen, publishing consultant Irene Hames, Laura Landweber from Princeton University, Ville Mustonen of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Caren Norden from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Anna Tramontano from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. For a full list of our invited speakers, please check our website (link below).  
 

Characterised by the diverse backgrounds of its organisers, the EMBL PhD symposium has always made multidisciplinarity one of its hallmarks. By bringing together leading scientists that tackle this subject from different perspectives, we seek to enable an exchange of ideas and inspire early-career researchers to see biological systems from a new point of view.

Our conference will offer an exciting, interdisciplinary and unique perspective on the balance between optimization and variability in biological systems. Moreover it will provide young researchers from various international research institutes with an opportunity to interact with leading scientists in a stimulating and informal environment, thanks to a rich program including talks, as well as poster stands, panel discussions and informal blackboard sessions.

Additionally short talks by PhD students and post-docs will be featured, and ample provision will be made for informal networking and social activities.

The 17th EMBL PhD symposium will take place on October 22nd-24th 2015, at EMBL Heidelberg, Germany. The registration has opened, and until the 5th of July you can get a special early-bird discount! You can register according to the guidelines on our website at: http://phdsymposium.embl.org/. Furthermore, travel grants are also available, for more information please check our website.  

Please forward this email to colleagues who might be interested in the PhD Symposium. We hope to see you in Heidelberg in October!

 

Kind regards,

Francesca Briganti

On behalf of the Symposium organization committee