Embryogenesis Explained

Alexis Pietak Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, April 24, 2013 Abstract There’s a wealth of pattern in plant form, yet relatively little understanding of developmental mechanisms capable of generating the precise and intricate architectures commonly observed. This talk explores developmental flower patterns as cellular responses to a positional information field established by a physical […]

Rob Ninowski Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, April 17, 2013 Abstract This talk will give a historical overview of the emergence and design of Cybernetics as an approach to a variety of problems confronting science and philosophy in the early 20th century. It will examine the processes which led to it’s coalescing, and it’s […]

Albert K Harris Professor of Biology UNC-Chapel Hill Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, April 10, 2013 Abstract Problem Number One is embryonic regulation, discovered more than a century ago by Hans Driesch, and never yet solved. Number Two is the consistency and regularity of most anatomical shapes. Number Three is whether any example has […]

Evgenii Rudnyi Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, April 3, 2013 Abstract I worked in chemical thermodynamics for more than 15 years and I know how the thermodynamic entropy is used to solve practical problems.  On the other hand, in biology the term “entropy” is often associated with information and evolution. The goal of the […]

Bradly Alicea Cellular Reprogramming Laboratory Orthogonal Research Michigan State University Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, March 27, 2013 Abstract How do you define a complex organism and its behavior? This question was discussed during the HTDE 2012 workshop, during which a range of “hard-to-define” events and ways to define, model, and analyze them were […]

Terrence W. Deacon Anthropology Department Chair University of California Berkeley Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, March 20, 2013 Abstract The origin of living dynamics required an evasion of second law degradation effects by maintaining critical dynamical and structural constraints. This is accomplished by synthesizing new components for replacement and reproduction and regulating these interactions […]

Clément Vidal Centrum Leo Apostel (CLEA) Evolution, Complexity and Cognition (ECCO) Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, March 13, 2013 Abstract This talk proposes a new concrete hypothesis to assess the existence of advanced extraterrestrial life. I first point out two methodological fallacies, *naturality-of-the-gaps* and * artificiality-of-the-gaps* and propose a more balanced *astrobiological stance*, which […]

LU, Kai Research Associate Carlton Group iCeMS Kyoto University Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, March 6, 2013 Abstract How do embryonic cells differentiate into various cell types during development? The answer is perhaps related to epigenetics—chromatin mechanisms contributing to selective expression of the genome. Spatiotemporal implementation of the epigenetic machinery within the nucleus, e.g. […]

Dr. Eluem Blyden Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, February 27, 2013 Abstract The ENCODON model of gene expression allows some new perspectives on the relationship between DNA, RNA and Protein and how genetic information becomes structure and function in the cell. A survey of the model is presented and its application to influenza is […]

Albert K Harris Professor of Biology UNC-Chapel Hill Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, February 20, 2013 Abstract Two central puzzles of embryology are: (first) how cell differentiation is controlled such that nerve cells each develop at their correct locations, relative to skin cells, skeleton etc. And (second) how this control mechanism compensates for changes […]

Richard Gordon, DickGordonCan@gmail.com Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory http://www.facebook.com/GulfSpecimenMarineLab Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, February 13, 2013 Abstract Presentation /files/presentations/Gordon2013b.pdf Biography see /2012/03/cause-and-effect.html Links Richard Gordon, A Tale of Two Papers Richard Gordon, University of Manitoba & Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, Walking the tightrope: The dilemmas of hierarchical instabilities in Turing’s morphogenesis Dick Gordon, Cause […]

Melinda Bonnie Fagan Assistant Professor of Philosophy Rice University mbf2@rice.edu (713) 348-2298 Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, February 6, 2013 Abstract The epigenetic landscape is a model of development, originally proposed by C. H. Waddington to visually explicate an integrated theory of genetics, development and evolution.  This simple, evocative model represents development as an […]

Ille C. Gebeshuber Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia Institute of Applied Physics, Vienna University of Technology, Austria Aramis Technologies Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia gebeshuber@iap.tuwien.ac.at Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, January 30, 2013 Abstract One of the fascinating aspects of nanotechnology is that on the nanometer scale all the natural […]

Albert K Harris Professor of Biology UNC-Chapel Hill Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, January 23, 2013 Abstract Malcolm Steinberg invented the “Differential Adhesion Hypothesis” (Steinberg 1963, 1970).  His key idea was that aggregations of cells are thermodynamically equivalent to drops of liquids, and that maximization of adhesions between cells acts like maximization of molecule-to-molecule […]

Albert K Harris Professor of Biology UNC-Chapel Hill Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, January 16, 2013 Abstract Sponge cells constantly rearrange, just as much from one day to the next as when their cells are mechanically separated from each other. H. V. Wilson discovered the ability of sponge and coral cells to rearrange into normal […]

Richard Gordon, DickGordonCan@gmail.com Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory http://www.facebook.com/GulfSpecimenMarineLab Presented in the Embryo Physics Course, January 9, 2013 Abstract A cytoskeletal structure (the cell state splitter) at the apical end of epithelial cells, that we predicted [1] and observed [2], may be set up in a metastable state and explain the binary nature of cell differentiations due to […]