QLS

Quantitative Life Sciences

Contacts:

The progressive integration of a wide range of different disciplines - including physics, statistics, information theory, biochemistry, genetics and medicine, population genetics and game theory - and increased availability of quantitative data has led to major advances in most diverse domains of life sciences, from molecular and cell biology to terrestrial and oceanic ecology, economics and quantitative finance. The integration process between disciplines has led to the consolidation of a new research domain, which we describe as ‘quantitative life sciences’ to provide a sense of its breadth. Detailed information...

News

27 May 2019

Postdoctoral Fellowships Open

Research with ICTP's Quantitative Life Sciences section

9 May 2019

Physics Without Frontiers Open Call

Join the effort to inspire and train the next generation

25 Apr 2019

Diving Into Complex Systems

ICTP hosts intense month-long College

27 Mar 2019

ICTP in Quantum Collaboration

Partners launch quantum technology institute

12 Dec 2018

Quantitative Life Sciences Colloquium

Prof. Lenka Zdeborova speaks 13 December

30 Nov 2018

Deep Learning & Artificial Intelligence

Voices from the Quantitative Systems Biology Winter School

28 Nov 2018

ICTP in China

New partner institute with University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences inaugurated

14 Nov 2018

Application Deadline 28 February

ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme

8 Nov 2018

Meet ICTP's New Scientists

Six new staff scientists join ICTP

5 Nov 2018

International PhD Opportunity

Nonequilibrium statistical physics, stochastic thermodynamics

Seminars view all

Europe/Rome 2019-07-23 11:30:00 2019-07-23 11:30:00 Can we predict weather and project climate using machine learning techniques? Recurrent neural networks have been recently introduced to predict the behavior of chaotic systems. Surprisingly, they provide reliable forecasts up to the predictability limit without knowing the underlying equations of the systems. Here we focus on the predictability of rare trajectories leading to extreme events. We focus on different chaotic systems, ranging from toy models of the atmospheric dynamics, up to the re-forecast of sea-level pressure and temperature fields issued by ERA Interim and NCEP reanalysis datasets. Our results show that: i) the machine learning techniques can make reliable weather forecasts of global atmospheric fields up to 48-72h with a time step of 3-6h ii) long time forecasts do not diverge, they produce reliable climatology of the sea-level pressure and temperature fields iii) we can evaluate the coherence of extreme events generated via the machine learning with respect to the observed ones.  ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 23 Jul 2019

» Can we predict weather and project climate using machine learning techniques?

Europe/Rome 2019-07-23 14:00:00 2019-07-23 15:00:00 American options with stochastic interest rates ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 23 Jul 2019

» American options with stochastic interest rates

Europe/Rome 2019-07-26 11:30:00 2019-07-26 11:30:00 The ergodicity problem in economics The ergodicity problem queries the equality or inequality of time averages and expectation values. I will trace its curious history, beginning with the origins of formal probability theory in the context of gambling and economic problems in the 17th century. This is long before ergodicity was a word or a known concept, which led to an implicit assumption of ergodicity in the foundations of economic theory. 200 years later, when randomness entered physics, the ergodicity question was made explicit. Over the past decade my collaborators and I have asked what happens to foundational problems in economic theory if we export what is known about the ergodicity problem in physics and mathematics back to economics. Many problems can be resolved. Following an overview of our theoretical and conceptual progress, I will report on a recent experiment that strongly supports our view that human economic behavior is better described as optimizing time-average growth rates of wealth than as optimizing expectation values of wealth or utility of wealth.  ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 26 Jul 2019

» The ergodicity problem in economics

Europe/Rome 2019-07-31 14:30:00 2019-07-31 15:30:00 Microscopic Langevin model for the modified Fürth equation Recent experimental research on the mobility of living cells indicate that their diffusion is not completely described by Fürth's equation since they display a normal diffusive regime before the onset of the ballistic motion. Moreover, results from a cellular Potts model simulation for the motion of cells in two dimensions present the same type of behavior and a modification of Fürth's equation has been proposed to fit the mean squared displacements (MSD) found both experimentally and computationally. Here, we propose a microscopic Langevin model to explain this anomaly in the MSD: we show that a polarization direction for the persistent motion as well as at least two time scales are needed. The model reproduces well the MSD obtained from the modified Fürth equation and is robust to changes in the microscopic dynamics of the polarization as a function of cell migration speed, which is in agreement with experimental data which suggests that persistence of trajectories is coupled to cell migration speed mediated by actin flows. ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 31 Jul 2019

» Microscopic Langevin model for the modified Fürth equation

Activities view all

Europe/Rome 2019-09-11 08:00:00 2019-09-14 22:00:00 ECRO 2019 Conference of the European Chemoreception Research Organization | (smr 3321) For more information and to submit your application visit https://www.ecro.online/meetings/ecro-2019-trieste/ A limited number of ICTP grants are available to support the attendance of selected participants - particularly scientists at the early stages of their career - from developing countries (see list here) ICTP gants can cover local costs and/or travel costs. ICTP encourages the participation of female scientists. Deadline to apply for ICTP grants: 10 June 2019 ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 11 Sep 2019 - 14 Sep 2019

» ECRO 2019 Conference of the European Chemoreception Research Organization | (smr 3321)

Europe/Rome 2019-09-30 08:00:00 2019-10-04 22:00:00 Workshop on Science of Data Science | (smr 3283) The workshop aims at gathering active scientists from different domains (statistics, machine learning, statistical physics, computer science) who made significant contributions in order to address conceptual questions in Data Science, where a unified, well accepted picture is still lacking DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS WITHOUT FINANCIAL SUPPORT: 31 AUGUST 2019 ICTP ICTP pio@ictp.it 30 Sep 2019 - 4 Oct 2019

» Workshop on Science of Data Science | (smr 3283)

Europe/Rome 2019-12-09 07:00:00 2019-12-20 21:00:00 ICTP-ICTS Winter School on Quantitative Systems Biology 2019 | (smr 3338) The International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) are organizing a joint winter school on quantitative systems biology. This is the 8th school in the series and will be held at ICTS, Bengaluru, India. https://www.icts.res.in/program/qsb2019 QSB2019 is an advanced school aimed at graduate students and postdocs working in quantitative systems biology. The focus this year is on 'morphogenesis'. The main school will be held between December 9-20, 2019 and will be preceded by a pedagogic and intensive ‘Pre-School’ between December 3-6, 2019. The Pre-School will cover the basic concepts in cell and developmental biology and will have short modules on mathematical modelling and physical approaches to biology. The deadline for applications is 1 September 2019. The development of an organism from a single-celled zygote to an embryo involves a tight integration between gene expression, signaling and mechanochemical processes. In recent years, there has been an explosion in studies that attempt to unravel the physical principles behind how organisms self-organize to generate their three-dimensional shape and functional form. Novel microscopy techniques are giving unprecedented views into the processes of development at very high spatiotemporal resolution. This deluge of data necessitates a larger scale systems-level understanding how organisms build themselves. The eighth edition of the ICTP - ICTS winter school on quantitative systems biology is focussed on Morphogenesis and will allow students from different backgrounds to become familiar with exciting developments at the interface of Physics and Developmental Biology. The participants of the school will be exposed to contemporary research areas, covering a large variety of topics, including mechanochemical pattern formation, regeneration and growth regulation, evolutionary-developmental biology. The school will emphasize how major questions in developmental biology such as stem cell differentiation, morphogenesis, tissue patterning, and tissue mechanics, can be asked with the help of quantification and physical theory. INVITED SPEAKERS INCLUDE Karen Alim Bill Bialek Fernando Cesares Suzanne Eaton Frank Jülicher Mounia Lagha Yasmine Meroz Matteo Rauzi Jochen Rink Tim Saunders Bengaluru - India ICTP pio@ictp.it 9 Dec 2019 - 20 Dec 2019