The Turing Centre deciphers the complexity and the dynamics of living systems

Ricardo Martinez-Garcia (CASUS Görlitz) will give a short external seminar, hosted by Pierre Ronceray (CINaM).

Location: Hexagone
Date: 16.03.2026
Time: 1:30 PM

CENTURI is also providing for off-campus participants only a zoom link to attend the seminar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85941690095?pwd=Nm5NVGhESGlUbG1FMnZ2dU5vSlkxUT09

Meeting ID: 859 4169 0095
Secret Code: 002024

SELF-ORGANIZATION AND ROBUSTNESS IN COMPLEX ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS.

Complex systems often self-organize into macroscopic regular patterns despite the stochastic dynamics and structural heterogeneity governing the microscopic scale. These emergent patterns, in turn, give rise to new functions and features, such as enhanced robustness to external perturbations. In many cases, however, different microscopic processes and interaction mechanisms can produce seemingly indistinguishable patterns that imply very different system-level consequences. Dryland ecosystems, where vegetation self-organizes into kilometric regular patterns in response to increased aridity, provide a paradigmatic example of this ambiguity: models invoking different plant-level interactions reproduce observed patterns, yet predict opposite responses to environmental perturbations.

Using ecological systems as examples in which robustness is directly linked to real-world challenges, I will show how this ambiguity arises in complex systems with intrinsically different microscopic dynamics and structures, dominated by interactions that are either local among sessile components or driven by encounters among moving components. I will then discuss ongoing efforts in my group to develop an understanding of complex-system robustness while capturing the microscopic interactions underlying self-organized patterns.

Kerstin Göpfrich (Heidelberg University) will give a short external seminar, hosted by Felix Rico (DyNaMo).

Location: Amphi 12
Date: 23.03.2026
Time: 1:30 PM

CENTURI is also providing for off-campus participants only a zoom link to attend the seminar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85941690095?pwd=Nm5NVGhESGlUbG1FMnZ2dU5vSlkxUT09

Meeting ID: 859 4169 0095
Secret Code: 002024

 

Abstract:

Ray Goldstein (University of Cambridge) will give a short external seminar, hosted by Patrick Breier (IBDM).

Location: Hexagone Auditorium
Date: 30.03.2026
Time: 1:30 PM

CENTURI is also providing for off-campus participants only a zoom link to attend the seminar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85941690095?pwd=Nm5NVGhESGlUbG1FMnZ2dU5vSlkxUT09

Meeting ID: 859 4169 0095
Secret Code: 002024

A fundamental issue in biology is the nature of evolutionary transitions from unicellular to multicellular organisms. Green algae are models for this transition, as they span from the unicellular species to multicellular ones with tens of thousand of cells, all of which swim through the action of flagella that are closely related to the cilia found throughout the human body. The mechanism by which these organisms steer toward light (phototaxis) is of particular interest since they lack a nervous system and intercellular connections; steering is a consequence of the response of individual  cells to light. In this talk I will describe experimental and theoretical work on the physical mechanism of phototaxis in species of green algae, spanning 3 orders of magnitude in cell number. We find an evolutionarily conserved dynamics, with a tuning between the time scales for an adaptive flagellar response to changing light levels and the spinning frequencies of the microorganisms. The implication of these results for the evolution of multicellularity are discussed.

Solène Song (IBDM) will give a short internal seminar.

Location: TBD
Date: 27.04.2026
Time: 1:30 PM

CENTURI is also providing for off-campus participants only a zoom link to attend the seminar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85941690095?pwd=Nm5NVGhESGlUbG1FMnZ2dU5vSlkxUT09

Meeting ID: 859 4169 0095
Secret Code: 002024

Title & Abstract will be available closer to the seminar’s date.