Sympotein VI - Rhythms in Biology

Coordinator:

Mukund Thattai,
NCBS-TIFR,
Bangalore

What makes an oscillator?  Is the circadian rhythm different from the swinging of a pendulum? How do you force a rhythm to march to the beat of your drummer? What is the sound of many hands clapping?*

In this Sympotein, we plan to talk about biological oscillations. We will begin with oscillators in general, and how to get  a system to oscillate. We will then introduce some examples of simple, well-studied biological oscillators, in each case emphasising the principles by which that system
operates. We will continue with how oscillators can be entrained, that is, made to follow an external rhythm, and then mention an example in which this entrainment displays what looks like a pinwheel. Finally, we will talk about how a collection of oscillators can synchronise with each
other, and the biological significance of synchrony.

* Self-organizing processes: The sound of many hands clapping. Z. Néda, E.
Ravasz, Y. Brechet, T. Vicsek & A.-L. Barabási; Nature 2000.

For Downloading poster click here .