Scientific Topics

◊ Dynamics of genomes and genetic variation
Technological advances that facilitate whole-genome and whole-population sequencing, coupled with experiments that ‘watch’ evolution in action, have brought insights into studies of genome evolution. Routine production of large data set resulted in a comprehensive catalogs of genetic variability and the knowledge of functional units of genomes improved thanks to the combination of effective prediction tools and large validation sets. In this session, we discuss the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary processes that shape the structure and function of genomes and that govern genome dynamics.

◊ Dynamics of Motifs
Motif searching in DNA, RNA and proteins is a key process to discover emergent properties of cells, tissues and organisms. It requires always more complex and comprehensive algorithms that can incorporate the growing up to date information from experimental sets. This session will provide an overview on current methods for motif searching and experimental validation.

◊ Dynamics of biological networks
Networks representing complex biological functions and activities are useful to interpret physiological processes in the cell, pathological states, and to investigate the potential effects of drug therapies, to name a few. Several mathematical models and algorithms are available for the different tasks involved in their integration, analysis and characterization, although difficulties arise in case of big data and dynamic systems, both at local and global scale.