15 Oct 2010 (workshop)
10-15 Oct 2010 (conference and related meetings)
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Supported by Cologne University's Collaborative Research Centre

By bridging the genotype-phenotype gap, molecular systems biology approaches have the potential to provide new insights into eminent
problems in evolutionary genetics including the adaptive landscape.
Realistic computational models of biological systems that predict
fitness correlates and their calibration with wet-lab data are vital
for progress in the emerging field of evolutionary systems biology.

This workshop continues to explore topics that were discussed at the 2009 ESEB symposium on evolutionary systems biology. We plan to have a focused half-day workshop, facilitating in-depth discussions and networking. We invite abstracts for talks and posters that explore how evolutionary genetics and systems biology could be brought together. This workshop is an exciting opportunity for interacting with some of the leading researchers in EvoSysBio. More details will be published on this website in due course.

Registration

Attendance is free, but you need to register as the number of places is limited by organisational constraints (initial registration info).

Due to high demand all places have already been allocated.

If you have a place, but cannot come or if you do not have a place and want to enter a waiting list, please email Laurence Loewe.

If you have any questions about this workshop, please email one of the workshop organisers.

Remaining keydates

• 14 Sept 2010 - Deadline for finalising registration. All places have already been allocated. Please email Laurence Loewe if you want to enter a waiting list.
• 15 Oct 2010 - Workshop in afternoon
  

Talks

The following speakers have already been confirmed:

• Prof. Dr Juliette de Meaux:
  Regulatory divergence between Arabidopsis species
  Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity
  University of Münster, Germany (Homepage)
  
  
• Prof. John Yin:
  Computational models and wet-lab experiments that explore genetic and environmental effects on virus fitness
  Systems Biology Theme Leader,
  Wisconsin Institute for Discovery,
  Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering,
  University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (Homepage)
  

Detailed description

Much work in current systems biology aims at obtaining an integrated quantitative understanding of functional molecular details. These efforts build on the impressive achievements of molecular biology in elucidating mechanistic details required for constructing corresponding models of individuals.

Evolutionary genetics has a long history of successful quantitative modelling in areas where functional molecular details can be abstracted as selection coefficients.

EvoSysBio aims at bringing these two fields together in order to construct novel models and hypotheses that inform our understanding of both evolution and how the systems of life work mechanistically.

A key goal of EvoSysBio is to extend quantitative molecular systems biology models to facilitate the computation of fitness correlates, which might help quantify selection coefficients. Fitness correlates are quantifiable properties of systems biology models that are likely to have an impact on fitness and are thus probably under selection.

Building on the successful Symposium on Evolutionary Systems Biology at the 2009 ESEB Congress in Turin, this workshop aims to explore further possibilities for constructing such models. We aim to bring together molecular systems biology results and evolutionary genetics results as well as simulations and experimental analyses of the corresponding systems. Combining the two subfields is crucial to our understanding of the evolution and mutational robustness of biological systems.

The goal of this workshop is to bring together an interdisciplinary community of researchers who have contributed to or are interested in contributing to a synthesis of evolutionary genetics and functional properties in molecular systems.

We believe that current systems biology provides an excellent opportunity for progress in many fundamental evolutionary questions. But although systems biology models have become increasingly available in the past few years, that opportunity has yet to be fully exploited by systems biologists.

If systems biology models that are being constructed now can be extended to include fitness correlates, they become powerful tools for investigating evolutionary adaptive landscapes. A potentially useful framework for this has been described recently (Loewe 2009, A framework for evolutionary systems biology. BMC Systems Biology 3:27, Journal Link ).

Thus, organising an interdisciplinary workshop on evolutionary systems biology is highly timely and could facilitate the generation of novel research agendas that advance both our understanding of evolution and systems biology.

Besides talks (and potentially posters) we want to have time for discussions with enough space to explore new ideas..

Workshop organizers

Dr. Laurence Loewe (email)
Centre for Systems Biology at Edinburgh
School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK
Homepage: http://evolutionary-research.net/people/lloewe

Prof. Martin Lercher
Chair for Bioinformatics, Institute for Informatics
Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
Homepage: http://www.cs.uni-duesseldorf.de/AG/BI/Englisch

Dr. Chris Knight
Faculty of Life Sciences, University Manchester, UK
Homepage: http://www.mcisb.org/people/knight/

Initial registration information (no longer valid)

Attendance is free, but you need to register in one of two ways:

1. If you are coming to the International Conference on Systems Biology 2010 anyway, please select our workshop on their registration form. This will not increase your costs. Abstract submission deadline for ICSB is 3 May 2010 1 June 2010.
   Submitting your abstract for the workshop is independent of ICSB abstract submission. Please submit your abstract by email to Laurence Loewe and indicate what type of presentation you prefer. Workshop abstract submission deadline is 21 May 2010
   1 June 2010.
   
   
2. If you want to come only to the workshop without going to the preceeding conference, please email Laurence Loewe with your Name and Affiliation. If you want to contribute a talk or a poster, please include an abstract as well. There is no need to pay anything, but your registration will only be valid after confirmation. Abstract submission deadline is 21 May 2010
   1 June 2010.
   
   
3. Deadline extension for abstracts until 1 June 2010.
   ICSB now allows abstracts to be submitted up to 1 June 2010. So the workshop abstracts deadline was adjusted to 1 June 2010 as well. Please choose option 1 or 2 to register.

Due to organisational constraints the number of places at this workshop is limited. ICSB will allocate most places on a first come first served basis. We have reserved a small number of places for direct registration through us. These will be allocated based on scientific merit. If you could not register through ICSB for our workshop, please email Laurence Loewe with your details. Your registration is only valid if confirmed.

If you have any questions about registration for this workshop or want to enquire about the suitability of a potential contribution, please email one of the workshop organisers.

Original keydates

• 21 May 2010 - Abstract deadline for workshop talks / posters
• 1 June 2010 - Extended abstract deadline for workshop
• 14 Sept 2010 - Registration deadline for mere participation
  Registration is now closed due to oversubscription. Please email Laurence Loewe if you want to enter a waiting list.
• 15 Oct 2010 - Workshop in afternoon