The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) and the University of Strasbourg (UNISTRA) organized an international symposium that allowed participants worldwide to learn from established scientists with an outstanding record of cross-disciplinary collaborations. Participants were encouraged to share their own experiences about working across disciplines. The symposium aimed to document a set of proven strategies for nucleating and sustaining interdisciplinary collaborations.
Humanity’s ability to interrogate and manipulate living systems is rapidly growing. Yet, science is far from completely understanding how cells, tissues, and organisms function. In the 1950s, the question of how genetic information is encoded inspired a generation of scientists across disciplines, culminating in the discovery of the DNA double helix. Similar cross-disciplinary efforts are needed to understand biology at all scales, from molecules to ecosystems.
In 2017, the Human Frontier Science Program Organisation (HFSP) organized an international symposium in Lisbon to explore successful cross-disciplinary research partnerships, such as that of the biologist and Nobel laureate E. Wieschaus and his physicist colleague W. Bialek (Bauer et al., Cell Systems 6:400, 2018). The symposium demonstrated the power of such collaborations but also revealed the tremendous barriers faced by young researchers who wish to work outside traditional disciplinary boundaries. Career pressures and incentives tilted toward short-term results discourage physicists, mathematicians, and computer scientists from entering biology. The life sciences can help address fundamental problems of our time in health, agriculture, and the environment, but only if a flow of ideas and talent across disciplines is maintained.
A new Centre for cross-fertilizing ideas
From the Lisbon Symposium, it emerged that all collaborations begin with exploration and trust-building for developing ideas and, particularly important for young scientists, for learning each other's languages and approaches. Therefore, a new type of institution is needed to provide such an environment, facilitating pathbreaking cross-disciplinary research in the life sciences. The Centre will have two components: incubators and platforms. An incubator generates the intellectual atmosphere to formulate new scientific questions and establish collaborations. A platform provides training experience outside of one’s main discipline, including access to research laboratories. Each year, calls for proposals around topical aspects and without a specific priority area will be published. The Centre will also offer summer and winter schools in these focus areas.
The University of Strasbourg, with its strong policy in support of interdisciplinarity through 15 Interdisciplinary Thematic Institutes, provides an ideal environment for this effort, with access to state-of-the-art equipment and opportunities to interact with world-class scientists in the various research laboratories.
Collaborative research teams
The new Centre will accept applications from interested scientists wishing to undertake collaborative sabbaticals (a tandem sabbatical by two scientists of different disciplines) in Strasbourg. Applications from young scientists are particularly encouraged if they are interested in embarking on an interdisciplinary journey prior to starting their independent research laboratory.
The research sabbatical will allow the selected scientists to contemplate bold, ambitious ideas for shaping their future research. Initial funding to support the sabbatical work will be available through the Centre.
To learn more about the Interdisciplinary sabbatical at UNISTRA, please consult the document Interdisciplinary sabbatical@Unistra
The HFSP Frontier Workshop, in partnership with the University of Strasbourg
As discoveries in physics a century ago came together with engineering to produce an array of astonishing technologies that completely reshaped our world, in the 21st century, basic discoveries in biology will come together with engineering and many other disciplines to create an almost inconceivable array of new technologies, some of which are already entering our lives. Therefore, one could consider the 21st century as the Century of Biology, in which the major technological and social innovations will be centered on converting living systems with technology. For HFSP, the symposium will be part of the new “Frontier Workshop” series to explore this opportunity to engage with leading scientists and decision-makers in science and policy to enhance cross-disciplinary research. For UNISTRA, this will be a brilliant endorsement of its policy of promoting interdisciplinary research and training to pioneer the next frontiers of knowledge in the face of scientific and societal challenges. The launch in 2020 of 15 interdisciplinary thematic institutes, 6 of which positioning biology at the heart of large-scale interface networks, will drive the site's strategic development.
The activities of the new Centre will be launched at an inaugural symposium from 13 to 15 May 2024 in the form of the first HFSP Frontier Workshop. This International Symposium will provide an opportunity for participants from across the world to learn from established scientists with an outstanding record of cross-disciplinary collaborations. Participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences about working across disciplines. The goal of the symposium is to document a set of proven strategies for nucleating and sustaining interdisciplinary collaborations.
Invited Speakers
Eight tandems of invited speakers, comprising brilliant researchers from across the globe, will exchange insights to push the boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration.
Program
MONDAY, 13 MAY 2024
11:00 Registration
12:00 Lunch
13:30 Opening and Welcome:
- Rémi Barillon, Vice Chairperson Research, Doctoral Training and Open Science, UNISTRA
- Pavel Kabat, Secretary General, HFSP
Invited Tandem Talks
Chair: Guntram Bauer, HFSP
14:00 "Physics and biology in the early fly embryo" by Eric Wieschaus (Princeton University, USA) and Bill Bialek (Princeton University, USA)
Musical Break
Chair: Daniel Riveline, UNISTRA
14:45 Duo Cello/Violin: Nicolas Hugon and Charlotte Juillard (Orchestre Philarmonique de Strasbourg)
15:30 COFFEE BREAK
Invited Tandem Talks
Chair: Mukund Thattai, NCBS
16:00 "Organising molecules in space using phase separation" by T. Hyman (MPI-CBG, GER) and F. Jülicher (MPI-PKS, GER)
16:45 "Towards life in a jar" by Shashi Thutupalli (NCBS, IND) and Zorana Zeravic (ESPCI, FRA)
Social Evening
18:00 Official reception by HFSP, Strasbourg City and Eurometropole - Hotel de Ville, 9 Rue Brûlée, Strasbourg
TUESDAY, 14 MAY 2024
Invited Tandem Talks
Chair: Karsten Kruse
8:00 "From the origins of life to life in the lab" by Claudia Bonfio (UNISTRA, FRA) and Kerstin Göpferich (ZMBH, GER)
8:45 "Biophysical interactions in infectious disease" by Rhoda Hawkins( AIMS, GHANA) and Simon Johnston (Sheffield University, UK)
9:30 "Control and Causality in Living Systems" by Mukund Thattai (NCBS, IND) and Arnab Bhattacharyya (NUS, Singapore)
10:15 COFFEE BREAK
10:45 "Light-Harvesting in Green Sulfur Bacteria: Experiment Meets Theory" by Donatas Zigmantas (Lund University, SWE) and Thomas Renger (University of Linz, AUT)
Selected Tandem Talks
Chair: Daniel Riveline, UNISTRA
11:30 Introduction to pre-selection and common presentations
11:45 *FF. Voigt/ML. Meretskan ML: Metasurface-enabled bioimaging
12.15 LUNCH
13.15 Poster Session I
Selected Tandem Talks
Chair: Mukund Thattai, NCBS
14:30 T. Das /D. Bi: The mechanical basis of epithelial defense against cancer: Elucidating the role of cell and nuclear mechanics in the competition between normal and cancer cells
15:00 M. Baker/A. Nord: High-throughput characterisation of engineered stator proteins to examine the basis of mechanosensing in the bacterial flagellar motor.
15:30 *I. Schapiro/M. Kosloff: UV opsin as the sensor for magneto-sensation in animals.
16.00 COFFEE BREAK
Selected Tandem Talks
Chair: Karsten Kruse
16:30 *MS Hutson/A. Page-McCaw : To fuse or not to fuse: the biophysics of wound-induced cell fusion
17:00 *E. Katifori/ AJM Cornelissen: Flow propulsion in the gastrovascular system of the jellyfish
17.30 *V. Mane/ C. LeGloanec: Unfolding how robust organ shape and flatness emerges in plant embryonic leaves
WEDNESDAY, 15 MAY 2024
Selected Tandem Talks
Chair: Mukund Thattai, NCBS
8:30 *MN Dean/S. Hanna : Sharkitectural solutions to multi-scale filter design: Basking shark feeding as a communication space for biology and architecture research
Poster Flash Talks
Chair: Karsten Kruse
9:00-10:00
*J. Fuentes: Morphogenesis as a Ricci Flow
*K. N Ikeda: Submicron sculpting of bristles by microvilli
*J. Christodoulou: The ribosome lowers the entropic barrier of protein folding
L. Hanlon: Quantum microscopy of neuron electric signals
*B. Bechinger: Mechanism of action and lipid-mediated synergistic interactions of antimicrobial peptides: New regulatory options for membrane proteins?
*S. Tidau: What makes marine systems tick? The role of time in marine ecosystems: Towards an integrated understanding of biological and ecological rhythms in marine ecosystems
10.00 Extended COFFEE BREAK for additional poster session (II) and match-making opportunity with participants
Poster Flash Talks
Chair: Daniel Riveline
11:00
*J. Seelig: Comparison of biological and artificial learning circuits
*KL Bowal: Agent based modelling of collective behaviours
*V. Raffa: Force-induced microtubule stabilization induces axon growth by coordinating a cellular response at the epigenetic, transcriptional, and translational level.
*R. Grosse: Formin-mediated nuclear actin assembly at androgen receptors promotes transcriptional droplet formation
*D.Bhatia: DNA nanotechnology tools for stem cells bioengineering, regenerative therapeutics
LE Wiebke: Maximizing encounters between T Cells and Antigen-Presenting Cells in the lymph node
11.50 Statement by Organizers/UNISTRA on final procedures for UNISTRA Centre for Collaborative Research
12:00 Extended LUNCH BREAK for additional poster session (III) and match-making opportunity with participants
14:30 Closing session
- Catherine Florenz, Vice Chairperson Strategies and Developments, UNISTRA
- Guntram Bauer, Chief Scientific Officer, HFSP
Afternoon: Departure of participants
*Presentation taking part in the competition for the Sabbatical at the UNISTRA Centre for Collaborative Research.
Musical Break
Duo Cello/Violin: Nicolas Hugon and Charlotte Juillard
The symposium organization thanks the artists Charlotte Juillard and Nicolas Hugon, both talented musicians at the Philarmonic Orquestra of Strasbourg, for their kind collaboration on the opening day of our event.
