Spring School on Dynamical Modelling of Biological Regulatory Networks

Spring School on
Dynamical Modelling of
Biological Regulatory Networks

April 9-20 2007, Les Houches, France

The principal objective of the spring school is to give an introduction to the variety of mathematical methods and computational tools available for the dynamical modelling, analysis and validation of biological regulatory networks. The lectures and training sessions focus on qualitative and analytical aspects of regulatory network modelling, as well as on concrete applications. In addition to providing primers in molecular and cellular biology, the school notably covers the following modelling approaches :

Dynamical systems : differential equations (linear, nonlinear, piecewise-linear,...), symbolic dynamics, slow-fast systems,...
Discrete models : graphs, logical automata,...
Formal methods : temporal logic, model checking,...

The lecturers address the following issues :

Scalability
Scope and limits of the different approaches
Modelling questions : available information, abstraction level
Existing tools, especially those that are freely available

Much emphasis is given to practical sessions with hands-on computer exercises and mini-projects under the guidance of at least one instructor.
The targeted audience of the spring school are PhD students and postdoctoral researchers interested in the modelling of biological systems, with various scientific backgrounds, including mathematics, physics, biology, and computer science.