Please distribute...
You are hereby invited to our sixteenth "Evolution, Complexity and
Cognition (ECCO)" seminar of 2005:
Systems
Modelling of Cancer
by
Lito Kyritsi
Place: room 3C204 (building C, 3rd floor), VUB campus
Oefenplein
Time: Friday, May, 27, at 17:30 h.
Abstract:
The bioinformatics era has witnessed a
focusing of biological research on the "bits and pieces"
that make up living organisms. The sequencing of complete genomes
initially generated an enthusiastic expectation that the keys to
life, health and disease would soon be available in the form of lists
of genes and proteins; this expectation, however, has gradually been
replaced by the realisation that complex processes, occurring in a
complex environment (the cell - the body), cannot be understood
through reductionistic approaches alone. The body and its phenomena
have to be studied as a complex system of dynamic, interconnected
elements, not only as isolated parts.
Cancer, a complex disease that continues to be one step ahead of even very sophisticated treatments, lends itself as an excellent field for studying the intricacies of decision-making and information-processing in living systems. The use of pluralistic, and novel approaches of modelling cancer through a systems perspective (using mathematical / in silico models, cybernetic models, ecological models, as well as ontologies and metaphors) may allow a better understanding of this "dysbiotic entity" but also in general possibly of the behaviour, decision-making and communication between different organisational levels in nature.
Cancer, a complex disease that continues to be one step ahead of even very sophisticated treatments, lends itself as an excellent field for studying the intricacies of decision-making and information-processing in living systems. The use of pluralistic, and novel approaches of modelling cancer through a systems perspective (using mathematical / in silico models, cybernetic models, ecological models, as well as ontologies and metaphors) may allow a better understanding of this "dysbiotic entity" but also in general possibly of the behaviour, decision-making and communication between different organisational levels in nature.
More info:
project about cancer as an emergent phenomenon:
http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/research/biocomp/chess.html
ECCO seminar programme coming weeks
3 Jun: Laetitia De Jaegher: Towards
sustainable development: the precautionary principle as a call for a
new theory of law to support multi-dimensional governance
ECCO seminars normally take place each Friday at 17h30 in room
3C204 of the VUB Campus Etterbeek. Everyone interested is welcome.
The seminars are very interactive, with small groups (about 8-10
people). The intention is to discuss in depth the research being
proposed, and to look for interdisciplinary connections with other
ECCO-related themes. Seminars last about two hours, after which the
remaining participants go to take a drink or a snack in the Opinio
Café on the campus, to continue the discussion in a more relaxed
setting.
--
Francis Heylighen
"Evolution, Complexity and Cognition" research group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
Francis Heylighen
"Evolution, Complexity and Cognition" research group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
