The International Conference on Stochastic Processes in Systems Biology, Genetics and Evolution, to be held at Rice University on August 21-25, 2012, will focus on emerging trends within the field of systems biology with a focus on the statistical methodologies and probability models that are most valued within the field. Special attention will be given to emerging challenges in systems biology, such as exploring the role of cancer stem cells in tumor development and progression, characterizing the systems pathways in inflammation which trigger sepsis, models of antibiotic resistance, and many other challenges in genetics and evolution. Symposia Topics: Systems Biology, Genetics and Evolution: New Challenges for Stochastic Dynamics Stochastic Processes for New Biology, Stochasticity of Cell Differentiation and Cell Fates, Stochastic Models of Cancer, Stochastic Gene Expression and Intracellular Signaling Pathways, Self-Organization, Epigenetics & Evolution, Branching Processs in Population Biology and Genetics, Stochastic Theory for Biochemical Systems. Junior researchers, students and under-represented groups are offered travel and subsistence assistance.
Recent years witnessed an explosion of biological data, which allow accurate insight into functioning of living beings at the levels ranging from genetic code to biomolecules, cells, tissues and organisms. Due to these new data, it became possible to understand how different levels of organization (scales) of living beings interact. This new science is called systems biology. From the very outset, systems biology has been more mathematically inclined than traditional disciplines of biology. In particular, it is attempting to understand the role randomness (or stochasticity) plays in functioning of living beings. For example, how is it possible that individual biological cells respond in very different ways to environmental stimuli, whereas the organism as a whole is capable of mounting a coherent response? Answers to this and other related questions are the subject of the conference.
, held August 22-25, 2012 at Rice University, Houston, TX, USA. The conference was a joint enterprise of the Department of Statistics, Rice Systems and Synthetic Biology Group and the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics. Stochastic processes are an important tool for building models of dynamic phenomena in biology, which include a random component. Systems biology has emerged as an important scientific discipline focused on understanding the functional properties of complex biological systems. Within an individual cell or a larger tissue, normal biological functioning depends on the interaction and signaling between cellular components and/or individual cells. The field of systems biology brings challenges not only in characterizing the essential structure of multi-scale phenomena but also the intrinsically stochastic (random) nature of the biological system. This conference focused on emerging trends within the field of systems biology with emphasis on the statistical methodologies and probability models that are most valued within the field. Special attention was given to emerging challenges in systems biology, such as exploring the role of cancer stem cells in tumor development and progression, characterizing the systems pathways in inflammation which trigger sepsis, models of antibiotic resistance, and many other challenges in genetics and evolution. The Conference is the only meeting of its genre that focuses specifically on facilitating interactions between basic stochastic processes researchers and systems biologists from developing and industrialized nations, with an additional emphasis on the involvement of junior researchers (graduate students and post-doctoral scholars). The meeting engaged over120 investigators from 9 countries. There were 9 symposia: Systems Biology, Genetics and Evolution: New Challenges for Stochastic Dynamics Michael White , University of Manchester , United Kingdom Gordon Mills, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Texas Olivier Lichtarge, Baylor College of Medicine, USA Michael Deem, Rice University, USA Eric Siggia, Rockefeller University, USA Stochastic Processes for New Biology Robert Griffiths, Oxford University, United Kingdom Serik Sagitov, Chalmers Institute of Technology, Sweden Aleksandra Walczak, Ecole Normale Superieure, France Christine Jacob , University of Paris, France Orly Alter, University of Utah, USA Stochasticity of Cell Differentiation and Cell Fates Seth Corey , Northwestern University, USA Leor Weinberger , University of California San Francisco, USA Cristian Tomasetti , Harvard University, USA Gurol Suel, UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA Stochastic Models of Cancer Natalia Komarova , University of California, Irvine, USA David Axelrod , Rutgers University, USA Alexander Anderson, Moffit Cancer Center & Research Institute, USA Maga Rowicka, University of Texas Medical Branch, USA Stochastic Gene Expression and Intracellular Signaling Pathways - I Andre Levchenko, John Hopkins University, USA Marek Kimmel, Rice University, USA Gabor Balazsi, MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA Oleg Igoshin, Rice University, USA Stochastic Gene Expression and Intracellular Signaling Pathways – II Scott Rifkin, University of California, San Diego, USA William Hlavacek, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA Furiy Fofanov, University of Houston, USA Adam Bobrowski, Lublin University of Technology Tomasz Lipniacki, Institute for Fundamental Technological Research, Poland Self-Organization, Epigenetics & Evolution Ido Golding, Baylor College of Medicine, USA Herbert Levine, Rice University, USA Sui Huang, Institute for Systems Biology, USA Amina Ann Qutub, Rice University, USA Andrzej Kudlicki, University of Texas Medical Center, USA Branching Processes in Population Biology and Genetics Ines Maria del Puerto , University of Extremadura, Spain James Thompson, Rice University, USA Peter Olofsson, Trinity University Shuwei Li, Rice University, USA Miguel Gonzales, University of Extremadura, Spain Stochastic Theory for Biochemical Systems Dennis Cox, Rice University, USA Allan Brasier, University of Texas Medical Branch, USA Pavel Paszek, University of Manchester, UK Gemenu H. Gunaratne, University of Houston, USA Robert Azencot, University of Houston, USA And a poster session in which over 30 posters were presented.
