Speculations on a New Approach to Modeling Biological Systems
Eberhard Voit,
Georgia Institute of Technology –
Abstract:
Computational systems biology complements experimental biology in
unique ways that are hoped to reveal insights and a depth of
understanding not achievable without systems approaches. A major
challenge of systems biology continues to be the determination of
parameter values for mathematical models. While some models can be
analyzed in symbolic form, these are few and far between, and the lack
of parameter values is a true obstacle for most computational analyses
of realistic biological phenomena. As a consequence, computational
modelers tend to take on a problem only if there is a relatively solid
database for parameter estimation. Interestingly, biologists very
often have very detailed mental models of the phenomenon they are
investigating and are not really interested in absolutely precise
numerical results, as long as they can test relevant,
semi-quantitative hypotheses. However, neither they nor their
modeling colleagues have the means of translating the mental models
into numerical mathematical structures that would allow advanced
diagnosis and testing. I will speculate in this presentation on a
possible way to bridge the cleft between mental and numerical models,
using modern methods from Biochemcial Systems Theory. The envisioned
technique is tentatively called “concept map modeling” and seems quite
reasonable, but I do not have proof yet that it will actually work in
real-world applications.
Date: 2007-Nov-29 Time: 17:00:00 Room: 336
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OLISSIPO Summer School in Lisbon | Computational phylogenetics to analyse the evolution of cells and communities

We are happy to announce the OLISSIPO Summer School on Computational phylogenetics to analyse the evolution of cells and communities, which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, at INESC-ID, between July 2-7, 2023.
Keynote speakers:
David Posada, University of Vigo (class)
João Alves, University of Vigo (hands-on)
Nadia El-Mabrouk, Université de Montréal (class)
Mattéo Delabre, Université de Montréal (hands-on)
Ran Libeskind-Hadas, Claremont McKenna College (class and hands-on)
Russell Schwartz, Carnegie Mellon University (class and hands-on)
See the preliminary agenda at: https://olissipo.inesc-id.pt/tree-tango-school
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The registration fee is 250€ for students and OLISSIPO members and 350€ for postdocs or other researchers (meals indicated at the schedule of the school are included, accommodation and flights are not). All details will be made available upon registration.
We will have slots for flash talks (3-10 min depending on the number of submissions) to present yourself and the work you have been developing in your research.
The 13th Lisbon Machine Learning School | LxMLS 2023

The Lisbon Machine Learning Summer School (LxMLS) takes place yearly at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). LxMLS 2023 will be a 6-day event (14-20 July, 2023), scheduled to take place as an in-person event.
The school covers a range of machine learning topics, from theory to practice, that are important in solving natural language processing problems arising in different application areas. It is organized jointly by Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), a leading Engineering and Science school in Portugal, the Instituto de Telecomunicações, the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa (INESC-ID), the Lisbon ELLIS Unit for Learning and Intelligent Systems (LUMLIS), Unbabel, Zendesk, and IBM Research.
Check online for information about past editions: LxMLS 2011, LxMLS 2012, LxMLS 2013, LxMLS 2014, LxMLS 2015, LxMLS 2016, LxMLS 2017, LxMLS 2018, LxMLS 2019, LxMLS 2020, LxMLS 2021, LxMLS 2022 (you can also watch the videos of the lectures for 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020).
31st International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD 2023)

The 31st International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD 2023) conference provides a forum for research and developments in the field of information systems. The theme of ISD 2023 is “Information systems development, organizational aspects and societal trends”. New trends in developing information systems emphasize the continuous collaboration between developers and operators in order to optimize the software delivery time. The conference promotes research on methodological and technological issues and how IS developers and operators are transforming organizations and society through information systems.
The ISD 2023 conference held this year also provides an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to promote their research, practical experience, and to discuss issues related to Information Systems through papers, posters, and journal-first paper presentations.
ISD 2023 will be hosted by Instituto Superior Técnico, in Lisbon, Portugal, on August 30–September 1, 2023.