School and Workshop on the Physics of Life

School: March 24 – 28, 2025

Workshop: March 28 – 30, 2025

On March 24 and 25, the school will be held at Principia Institute (next to the hotel at R. Pamplona 145).

On all other days, the school and workshop will be held at IFT-UNESP (near the Barra Funda metro station).

ICTP-SAIFR, São Paulo, Brazil

Zoom ID: 875 6277 0392
Password: life

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Through minicourses and research seminars and discussion sessions, this school and workshop will explore the fundamental physical principles that govern living systems across scales, from macromolecules to birds. Minicourse topics during the school will include:

  • Molecular and Cell Biophysics
  • Neurophysics
  • Dynamical Systems and Collective Motion
  • Machine Learning Tools for Biological Physics

The school is designed for graduate students interested in the intersection of physics and life sciences from a physics perspective. Leading experts will deliver in-depth lectures on cutting-edge experiments, theoretical frameworks, and emerging trends in the field.

Immediately following the school there will be a 3-day workshop with invited seminars by researchers from Latin America, as well as discussion sessions addressing how to build a network of biological physicists in the region.

Applicants are invited to submit abstracts for poster presentations during both the school and workshop.

There is no registration fee. Limited funding is available to support travel and local expenses for school participants and local expenses for workshop participants.

Organizers:

  • William Bialek (Princeton University)
  • Silvina Ponce Dawson (Universidad de Buenos Aires)
  • Roberto Kraenkel (Universidade Estadual Paulista)
  • José Onuchic (Rice University)
  • Marcus Aguiar (Universidade de Campinas)
  • Antonio José Costa-Filho (Universidade de São Paulo)
  • Vitor Barbanti Pereira Leite (Universidade Estadual Paulista)
  • Danilo B. Liarte (ICTP-SAIFR & Universidade Estadual Paulista)
  • Pablo de Castro (ICTP-SAIFR & Universidade Estadual Paulista)

List of Participants: Updated on February 25, 2025.

Announcement:

Application deadline for school: January 11, 2025 (closed)
Application deadline for workshop: February 17, 2025 (closed)

Lecturers

Lecturers

  • Olga Dudko (University of California at San Diego, USA) – How living systems accomplish things on time: beating the speed limit in genomic interactions, viral infection, and neuronal communication
  • Gabriel B. Mindlin (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) – Artificial intelligence and dynamics applied to biophysics: the case of birdsong
  • Tomás S. Grigera (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina) – Statistical physics of collective motion
  • Faruck Morcos (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) – From biomolecular prediction to design, the impact of machine learning in biological physics

 

Reading materials

Wang B. and Dudko O.K.”A theory of synaptic transmission” eLife 2021;10:e73585 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.73585

Zhang Y. and Dudko O.K. “Statistical mechanics of viral entry” Physical Review Letters 114: 018104 (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.018104

Zhang Y. and Dudko O.K. “First-passage processes in the genome” Annual Reviews of Biophysics 45:117-34 (2016)
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biophys-062215-010925

 

Registration

Announcement:

 

Application deadline: January 11, 2025 (closed)
Application deadline for workshop: February 17, 2025 (closed)

Program

 

 

 

 The schedule might be changed.

Workshop

Speakers

  • Guillermo Abramson (Centro Atómico Bariloche, Instituto Balseiro, Argentina)
  • Marcus Aguiar (Unicamp and ICTP-SAIFR, Brazil)
  • Hugo Aguilaniu (Serrapilheira Institute, Brazil)
  • Gabriel Aguilar (UFRJ, Brazil)
  • Ana Amador (UBA, Argentina)
  • Sabrina Araújo (UFPR, Brazil)
  • Oswaldo Baffa (USP-RP, Brazil)
  • Paulo Bisch (UFRJ, Brazil)
  • Mauro Copelli (UFPE, Brazil)
  • Antonio José Costa-Filho (USP, Brazil)
  • Silvina Ponson Dawson (UBA, Argentina)
  • Sérgio Ferreira (UFRJ & IDOR Pioneer Science, Brazil)
  • Diego Ferreiro (UBA, Argentina)
  • Daniel Fraiman (University of San Andrés, Argentina)
  • Vitor Barbanti Pereira Leite (UNESP, Rio Preto, Brazil)
  • Karin A. Riske (UNIFESP, Brazil)
  • Enzo Tagliazucchi (UBA, Argentina)

 

Discussion on science philanthropy 

  • Hugo Aguilaniu (Serrapilheira Institute, Brazil)
  • Sérgio T. Ferreira (UFRJ & IDOR Pioneer Science, Brazil)

 

Abstracts: HERE

 

Network discussion
 

Regional network on biological physics. What type of network would we like to establish? What type of network would be feasible and how? There are several possibilities: 

  1. to contribute to community building focused on higher education (regular organization of schools for graduate students on the subject; regional postgraduate program like the POSLATAM one, https://www.lafebs.org/postlatam; articulation with Physics of Living Systems, https://pols.rice.edu/; training programs for the use of specific tools, see e.g., LAAAMP, https://laamp.iucr.org/); 
  2. to contribute to the development of the research community via the training on specific tools for researchers and support staff, by sharing equipment and facilities, by sharing tools (example: LABI, https://labi.lat/); 
  3. creation of an association that could serve to share information and organize a conference with a certain periodicity (e.g., the BIOMAT consortium, http://biomat.org/, which apparently started in Brazil); 
  4. something else?

Funding and project discussion

Collaborative regional projects. Given the common and complementary expertise of the community in the region, can we think of joining forces to advance with specific research projects? What type of projects? What types of financing are available for these projects?

Posters

Monday 24/03 and Tuesday 25/03 during School 

Friday 28/03 during Workshop

  • Maribel Gándara. Dissecting Ultrasensitivity in miRNATarget Interactions: A Combined Theoretical and Experimental Approach
  • Jerónimo Fotinós. Towards Better Modeling the Spatial Distribution of Cancer-Stem-Cells in Tumorspheres
  • Gustavo Gama Cambrainha. Criticality at work: scaling in the mouse cortex enhances performance
  • Emanuel Fortes Teixeira. Segregation in binary mixture with differential contraction among active rings
  • Facundo Fainstein. Physical Constraints and Optimization in Avian Respiration
  • Matheus Stefanini Mariano. Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Approach to the Population Dynamics of Early Replicators
  • Caue Augusto Boneto Gonçalves. Search the structural by electron cryomicroscopy of the MotA/MotB flagellar stator of Leptospira interrogans
  • Juan Martín Tenti. Revealing Sleep Phases Through Unsupervised Analysis of Intracranial EEG Signals
  • Vitor Marquioni Monteiro. The impact of intermittent feeding on the gut microbial diversity
  • Jason Peña. On the Influence of Bending energy on the Assembly of Spherical Viral Capsids
  • Victor Hugo Mello. From structural variability to mechanical energetics of a molecular motor assembly

 

Wednesday 26/03 and Thursday 27/03 during School 

Saturday 29/03 during Workshop

  • Davi Arrais Nobre. A comparison of the dynamics of Ising spins and ecological oscillators on annealed small-world networks.
  • Gonzalo Javier Giordano. Analysis of the pocketome landscape using complex networks
  • Ana Paula da Silva Koltun. Fractional tumour-immune mathematical model with drug resistance
  • Juliana Bueno de Camargo. IMPACT OF LOCAL ENERGETIC FRUSTRATION ON THE ENERGY LANDSCAPE OF ANKYRIN REPEAT PROTEINS
  • Daniel Batista de Jesus. Application of mesoscopic model to study of DNA and RNA methylation
  • Angel Mendieta. Imaging data driven simulations for Human Chromosomes
  • Robert Tavares. Mechanical Behavior of Simulated Collagen Fibrils
  • Ana Maria Cruz Gonzalez. Impact of Network Functionalization on the Surface Properties and Behavior of Thermoresponsive Copolymeric Nanogels
  • SARAH ALEJANDRA CABEZA LONGO. Mathematical Approaches in Physics Engineering and Biophysics: Investigating the Possibility of Extremophilic Life on Exoplanets
  • Larissa Maria Ferreira Adolfo. Exploring the Energy Landscape of Amylin and Its Pathological Mutant

 

Friday 28/03 during Workshop only

  • Paulo Henrique Gonsalves. Analysis of perturbations in the formation of Turing patterns in the Gray-Scott model
  • Ezequiel Galpern. How natural sequence variation modulates protein folding dynamics
  • Edgardo Brigatti. Growth-rate distributions of gut microbiota time series: neutral models and temporal dependence

 

Saturday 29/03 during Workshop only

  •  DETOUO Brind.  Dynamic control and optimization of hybrid electric grids: Case of the AIMS-Cameroon micro-Grid
  • Yenny Alexandra Erazo Josa. Síntesis de nanopartículas magnéticas de óxido de hierro a partir de residuos de tornerías

 

Videos and Files

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School and Workshop on the Physics of Life

Additional Information

Attention!Some participants in ICTP-SAIFR activities have received email from fake travel agencies asking for credit card information. All communication with participants will be made by ICTP-SAIFR staff using an e-mail “@ictp-saifr.org”. We will not send any mailings about accommodation that require a credit card number or any sort of deposit. Also, if you are staying at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista, please confirm with the Uber/Taxi driver that the hotel is located at Rua Pamplona 83 in Bela Vista (and not in Jardim Etelvina).

BOARDING PASS: All participants, whose travel has been provided or will be reimbursed by ICTP-SAIFR, should bring the boarding pass  upon registration. The return boarding pass (PDF, if online check-in, scan or picture, if physical) should be sent to secretary@ictp-saifr.org by e-mail.

COVID-19: Brazilians and foreigners no longer have to present proof of vaccination before entering the country.

Visa information: Nationals from several countries in Latin America and Europe are exempt from tourist visa. Nationals from Australia, Canada and USA will be required to obtain a tourist e-visa for visits after April 10, 2025.

Accommodation: Participants, whose accommodation will be provided by the institute, will stay at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista. Hotel recommendations are available here.

Poster presentation: Participants who are presenting a poster MUST BRING A PRINTED BANNER . The banner size should be at most 1 m (width) x 1,5 m (length). We do not accept A4 or A3 paper.