[Biomedical-cybernetics] Biological Cell Information Processing Workshop (UCNC'15): Deadline in 2 weeks, Registration is open

[Michael Cooling]

Dear All,

A reminder about the Biological Cell Information Processing Workshop  
to be held in Auckland on
the 4th of September as part of UCNC'15.

Note the deadline for abstracts is May 4th, 2015.

Registration is now open at http://ucnc15.wordpress.fos.auckland.ac.nz/registration/
Early-bird rates are available until mid-July.


CALL FOR PAPERS

Biological Cell Information Processing Workshop, UCNC'15, September 4,  
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
http://ucnc15.wordpress.fos.auckland.ac.nz/?p=164

Advances in experimental and computational techniques for exploring
biological cellular function, both within individual cells and across
populations of cells, have led to the revealing of increasingly complex
systems of interacting processes. Cells respond to a myriad of  
mechanical
and chemical signals from neighbouring cells, structures and the wider
environment. These signals cause changes in cell behaviour including the
production of other signals, both internal and external to the cell, and
control of gene expression. Considering the initiating signals and  
latent
information as "inputs", and subsequent signals and behaviours as
"outputs", respectively, exactly how the cell processes the input  
signals
to determine the appropriate (or, in the case of some diseases, perhaps,
the "inappropriate") output has yet to be fully understood. Yet, each of
our own bodies seems to contain on the order of 10 to the 13 [1] of  
these
information-processing units!

This workshop, co-hosted by the multi-disciplinary international  
conference
on Unconventional Computing and Natural Computation, will bring  
together a
wide range of biological and medical cellular experimentalists,
computational theorists, computational modellers and other researchers  
with
an interest in viewing biological cells, at least in part, as  
information
processors. Topics may include, but are not limited to, experimental,
computational and/or theoretical studies in: gene regulatory networks,
extracellular and intracellular signalling networks, transport and  
channel
gating systems and cellular (biological) computing. The intent is to
facilitate communication and networking between holders of diverse
perspectives in this fascinating area.

[1] Bianconi E. et al. Annals of Human Biology 40(6), 2013.

** Invited Speakers **

    Rod Dunbar - The University of Auckland, New Zealand.
    James Sneyd - The University of Auckland, New Zealand.
    Cris Print - The University of Auckland, New Zealand.

** Abstracts **

We invite abstracts describing novel work on any aspect of biological  
cell
information processing, whether experimental or theoretical, for short  
talk
or poster presentations. The intent of this workshop is to provide
opportunities for experimentalists and theorists to exchange ideas and  
we
therefore actively encourage submissions from a broad range of related
areas.

The deadline to submit abstracts is Monday, May 4, 2015, EDT.

Guidelines for abstracts:

    Main body (excluding references) to be no longer than 600 words
    Include title, authors, affiliations and corresponding author  
email, scientific content (optionally figures) and finally references
    Please present sufficient detail for readers to understand the  
primary methods and results
    Submission of works-in-progress and preliminary results is  
encouraged
    The abstract should be in PDF format
    It is permissible to submit multiple abstracts
    Finally, include whether you wish the abstract to be considered  
for an oral or poster presentation.

Please submit abstracts by e-mail to: biocell.ucnc15 at gmail.com

Confirmation of receipt should be sent within a few days. Notification  
of
acceptance should be sent in early July 2015.

Selected abstracts may be invited to contribute full papers to a Special
Issue of the International Journal of Unconventional Computing.

We hope to see you in Auckland in 2015. If you have any questions  
about the
workshop, please do not hesitate to contact the organiser.

** Program Committee **

    Lila Kari (University of Western Ontario, Canada)
    Poul Nielsen (the University of Auckland, New Zealand)
    Anil Wipat (Newcastle University, United Kingdom)
    Ulrike Stege (University of Victoria, Canada)
    David Long (the University of Auckland, New Zealand)
    David Nickerson (the University of Auckland, New Zealand)
    Jeff Jones (University of the West of England, United Kingdom)
    Cedric Tedeschi (University of Rennes, France)
    Mike Cooling (the University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Organiser: Mike Cooling (the University of Auckland, New Zealand), m.cooling at auckland.ac.nz