This award supports the biennial conference on Computational Cell Biology: The Interplay between Models and Data, which takes place March 19-22, 2013, at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). This meeting brings together a diverse group of scientists who study the molecular, structural, and functional aspects of cellular processes by using computer simulations and mathematical models. The interdisciplinary field computational cell biology is focused on the simulation of molecular machinery that drives the physiological behavior of living cells. To build useful quantitative models of these processes, computational scientists must work closely with experimental cell biologists; in this partnership, experimentalists collect data about cellular processes and how they change over time, while mathematicians use the information to build and improve upon computer models that accurately reflect the biology. The CSHL conference advances knowledge in cell biology by providing a forum where scientists who study all aspects of dynamic cellular processes, from data generation and analysis to the development and validation of quantitative models, can interact with each other and exchange ideas, information, and approaches. The conference includes sessions on signal processing, noise, cell mechanics, development, synthetic biology, imaging, evolution, and organizing principles of biological systems. The 2013 meeting builds on the successes of prior CSHL meetings to assemble an international gathering of scientists, discuss new developments in the field, and catalyze innovative research collaborations.
The discipline of computational cell biology seeks to develop mathematical models of living systems, such as molecular interactions during cell division in both healthy cells and cancer. The goals for such models are twofold: 1) predict outcomes from dynamical systems in the cell, thereby allowing scientists to 2) explain how cellular processes go awry in disease. To build successful models, mathematicians and computer scientists must work closely with experimental cell biologists. In this partnership, experimentalists collect quantitative information about cellular processes and how they change over time, while mathematicians use the information to build and improve upon computer models that accurately reflect the biology. The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory conference on Computational Cell Biology: The Interplay between Models and Data advances knowledge in the field by bringing together scientists with expertise in both experimental and computational techniques, thus catalyzing scientific interactions that will ultimately accelerate the pace of discovery.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Conference on Computational Cell Biology: The interplay between modeling and experimentation. March 19 – 22, 2013 88 Participants ARRANGED BY: Galit Lahav, Harvard Medical School Ed Munro, University of Chicago Vito Quaranta, Vanderbilt University Wallace Marshall, University of California, San Francisco This 2013 meeting marked the exit from the organizing committee of Leslie Loew and John Tyson, the original founding members. To follow in their tracks, the basic format of the meeting was maintained: The opening talk of a session is given by an established leader, who also functions as chair, and the remaining slots are filled with speakers chosen from the submitted abstracts. To select these oral presentations, organizers and session chairs entertained lively discussion in the week’s ahead, ensuring coverage of the latest most exciting science. As expected of a meeting tracing the interplay of experiments and modelin, all presentations intertwined computational and experimental approaches. Poster sessions were also animated by vibrant discussions around the work presented. Two keynote addresses were delivered respectively by Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz (National Institutes of Health) who described advances in fluorescent reporters and super-resolution microscopy ushering a new era in structural cell biology, and by Michael Elowitz (Caltech) who eloquently spoke about lessons from synthetic gene circuits. Marileen Dogterom (FOM Institute, the Netherlands), chaired a session on Cell Mechanics, presenting work to study organization of and force-generation by the cytoskeleton in cell-free systems. This year, a new emphasis on disease was introduced to the meeting: a cancer systems biology theme was covered in two sessions, respectively chaired by Vito Quaranta (Vanderbilt) (substituting for a suddenly indisposed Michael Yaffe, MIT), who spoke about tumor cell heterogeneity captured by targeted drug-induced proliferation rates, and Sylvia Plevritis (Stanford) who described computational tools to characterize differentiation-based breast cancer heterogeneity. Covered cancer topics included p53 oscillations in single cells, and control of G1/S transition. Wendell Lim and Orion Weiner (UCSF) chaired the session on synthetic biology, with talks on maintenance of cell polarity, molecular dynamics within cells and molecular circuitry regulating cell states. The session on Development, chaired by Angela DePace (Harvard) covered fly, zebrafish and mouse model organisms, focusing on computational models for gene regulation. The Noise and Statistical Physics session, co-chaired Guron Suel (UCSD) and Rob Phillips (Caltech), reported on molecular and mathematical approaches to study stochastic processes in cells. Organizing Principles of Biological Systems was chaired by James Ferrell (Stanford) who described feedback circuits controlling cell cycle. Noise control in cells, as well as principles of microbial colony organization, were also discussed in this session. The Imaging and Computer Vision was chaired by Richard Murphy (Carnegie-Mellon) speaking on useful "feature" for segmenting and classifying cell images in automated fashion. The session included description of computational methods to classify iPS and heterogeneity of growing cell size. A session on Signal Processing was opened by its chair, Boris Kolodenko (Systems Biology Institute, Ireland) with a comprehensive recap of the underlying features of the EGFR network. Homeostatic controlling motifs and models for bacterial sporulation were covered as well in this session. A steady feature of this meeting has become the improvisational theater to build a social context for conversations among scientists, cleverly led by the gifted Raquel Holmes (UConn Health Center). After some understandable hesitation, all scientists participated fervently, and a splendid time was had by all. The meeting was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation as well as additional contributions from various companies. The meeting will observe its biennial schedule (March/April 2015). NSF representative Gregory W. Warr enthusiastically participated at the meeting, and confirmed it is among NSF priorities for continued support.
