SPSW and SystemsX.ch Summer School: Modelling Development in Plant Sciences
Program is now available: PDF
REGITRATION CLOSED
Places are still available, please contact sandrine.gouinguene-at-unine.ch
Date & Location
Date: Thursday 21 (14:00) to Saturday 23 (12:00), June 2012
Location: Hotel Regina, Mürren, Switzerland
Organisers
Christian Hardtke, Biophore Building, DBMV, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Christian Fankhauser, Genopode Building CIG, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Invited speakers
- Christian Fleck (University of Freiburg, Centre for Biological systems Analysis, Freiburg, Germany)
Increasing the understanding of phytochrome signaling through theory and experiment - abstract
Publications:
- Cris Kuhlemeier (University of Bern, Institute of Plant Science, Bern, Switzerland)
System Biology of Phyllotaxis - abstract
Publications:
Besnard, F., Vernoux, T., and Hamant, O. (2011). Organogenesis from stem cells in planta: multiple feedback loops integrating molecular and mechanical signals. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 68, 2885-2906.
Braybrook, S.A., and Kuhlemeier, C. (2010). How a Plant Builds Leaves. Plant Cell 22, 1006-1018.
Reinhardt, D., Pesce, E.R., Stieger, P., Mandel, T., Baltensperger, K., Bennett, M., Traas, J., Friml, J., and Kuhlemeier, C. (2003). Regulation of Phyllotaxis by Polar Auxin Transport. Nature 426, 255-260.
Smith, R.S., Guyomarc'h, S., Mandel, T., Reinhardt, D., Kuhlemeier, C., and Prusinkiewicz, P. (2006). A plausible model of phyllotaxis. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 1301-1306.
- Stefan Kepinski (University of Leeds, Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Leeds, UK)
Context, specificity and self-organisation in auxin signalling - abstract
- Markus Owen (University of Nottingham, School of Mathematical Science, Nottingham,UK)
Integrating plant gene regulatory networks with multi-scale tissue models - abstract
Publications:
Mathematical modeling elucidates the role of transcriptional feedback in gibberellin signaling
Growth-induced hormone dilution can explain the dynamics of plant root cell elongation
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Richard Smith (University of Bern, Institute of Plant Science, Bern, Switzerland)
Plant patterning by auxin transport-feedback mechanisms- abstract
Publications:
Smith 2006 A plausible model of phyllotaxis
Prusinkiewicz 2009 Control of bud activation by an auxin transport switch
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Jan Traas (Ecole normale supérieure de Lyon, Laboratory of plant reproduction and development, Lyon, France)
From genes to shape: morphodynamics at the shoot apical meristem- abstract
Publications:
Coen The genetic of Geometry PNAS 2003
Excercices experts:
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Pierre Barbier de Reuille (University of Bern, Institute of Plant Science, Bern, Switzerland)
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Micha Hersch (University of Lausanne, Department of Medical Genetics, Lausanne, Switzerland)
Summary and aims
Molecular genetic approaches focusing in particular on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana have lead to a vast increase in our understanding of the genes underlying key aspects of plant growth and development. This increase in information also leads to new challenges such as integrating this information into models that can recapitulate the known genetic interactions and generate new hypotheses about the network topology. Generating such computational plant models is increasingly seen as a useful tool for comprehending complex relationships between gene function, plant development and the resulting plant form. This approach has been successful because the models generated based on available data predicted new (sometimes counterintuitive) hypotheses that have later been experimentally validated.
The aim of this summer school is to expose students to such computational approaches. This will be achieved by offering them high quality scientific presentation from world leading scientists in this research area. In addition the students will have the opportunity to perform bioinformatic exercises to illustrate and practice key concepts in modelling. This should help many students to realise that computation approaches are not exclusively accessible to computer scientists but that a biologist with minimal training in computer handling can perform at least simple tasks that can already be useful for his/her project.
Although the Swiss plan science community counts key actors in plant modelling many students had little education and are only unfrequently exposed to such approaches. We feel that this summer school fills a gap in the education of numerous graduate students. Training our students in the field of modeling is important because this approach will undoubtedly increase in importance in the future.