Speakers
Description
The complexity of biological systems resides in the stochastic fluctuations and interactions between their many components. Even among genetically identical cells, there exists significant heterogeneity in the expression of mRNAs and proteins. This non-genetic cell-to-cell variability plays a central role in shaping population- and tissue-scale dynamics, influencing proliferation, survival, movement, and spatial organisation. Understanding how such variability arises and propagates across scales is therefore key to linking cellular-level noise with emergent collective behaviour.
Mathematical and computational models, informed by experimental data, provide a framework to identify effective sources of variability and to quantify their impact on collective dynamics. Variability in transcriptional activity, receptor expression, and cellular mechanical properties can lead to heterogeneous proliferation rates, distinct motility behaviours, and diverse responses to environmental cues. Although the classical view of noise is that it is detrimental to cellular function, phenotypic noise and plasticity can have significant benefits, including robustness and adaptability in variable environments.
This mini-symposium brings together speakers studying how non-genetic variability influences emergent dynamics across biological scales, and how its sources can be identified using mathematical models informed by data.
