Speaker
Description
Fluctuations in red blood cell (RBC) membranes and chromatin domains encode key information about cellular mechanical properties and metabolic activity, which are often linked to physiological states and pathological alterations \cite{di_pierro_anomalous_2018}. Quantitative analysis of these fluctuations provides access to the underlying dynamics that characterize living systems as stochastic systems operating far from equilibrium. Here we transform experimental time series into complex networks using the Horizontal Visibility Graph (HVG) method \cite{luque_horizontal_2009} and exploit their topological properties as quantitative descriptors of active dynamics. We show that, without requiring additional preprocessing beyond the time-series-to-network conversion, graph-based metrics discriminate metabolic states across different cellular groups. Furthermore, the analysis reveals the presence of the precision–efficiency uncertainty principle in biological systems \cite{gnesotto_broken_2018}, whereby reductions in dynamical uncertainty occur at the expense of system efficiency. Together, these results indicate that the HVG framework provides a sensitive and robust approach to characterize active biological dynamics and to detect physiological alterations from fluctuation patterns.
Bibliography
@article{gnesotto_broken_2018,
title = {Broken detailed balance and non-equilibrium dynamics in living systems: a review},
volume = {81},
issn = {0034-4885, 1361-6633},
shorttitle = {Broken detailed balance and non-equilibrium dynamics in living systems},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6633/aab3ed},
doi = {10.1088/1361-6633/aab3ed},
number = {6},
urldate = {2026-03-15},
journal = {Reports on Progress in Physics},
author = {Gnesotto, F S and Mura, F and Gladrow, J and Broedersz, C P},
month = jun,
year = {2018},
pages = {066601},
}
@article{luque_horizontal_2009,
title = {Horizontal visibility graphs: {Exact} results for random time series},
volume = {80},
copyright = {http://link.aps.org/licenses/aps-default-license},
issn = {1539-3755, 1550-2376},
shorttitle = {Horizontal visibility graphs},
url = {https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.046103},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.80.046103},
language = {en},
number = {4},
urldate = {2026-03-15},
journal = {Physical Review E},
author = {Luque, B. and Lacasa, L. and Ballesteros, F. and Luque, J.},
month = oct,
year = {2009},
pages = {046103},
}
@article{di_pierro_anomalous_2018,
title = {Anomalous diffusion, spatial coherence, and viscoelasticity from the energy landscape of human chromosomes},
volume = {115},
issn = {0027-8424, 1091-6490},
url = {https://pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1806297115},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1806297115},
language = {en},
number = {30},
urldate = {2026-03-15},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences},
author = {Di Pierro, Michele and Potoyan, Davit A. and Wolynes, Peter G. and Onuchic, José N.},
month = jul,
year = {2018},
pages = {7753--7758},
}
