Past events

Meeting #4: Friday03/07/2026, 14h30-16h30

14:30 Pedro Tiago Monteiro (INESC-ID Instituto Superior Técnico) - Room S2 (Bloco de Aulas)

Modeling and analysis of logical regulatory networks

Abstract: Biological regulatory networks exhibit complex dynamics that drive cellular decision-making and pattern formation. Logical modeling, particularly employing Boolean networks, has emerged as a rigorous mathematical formalism to capture these behaviors, bypassing the parameterization bottlenecks inherent to continuous differential systems. This talk explores the dynamical analysis of logical regulatory networks, focusing heavily on the complexities of asynchronous updating schemes. Computational strategies to estimate attractor reachability will be examined, demonstrating how to effectively delineate the state space of complex, high-dimensional cellular models. Furthermore, the concept of logical bifurcation diagrams will be introduced. This provides a discrete analog to continuous bifurcation theory, enabling the systematic study of how alterations in regulatory logic or boundary conditions restructure the network's asymptotic behavior. Together, these methodological advances illustrate the capacity of discrete formalisms to yield profound quantitative insights into the robustness and plasticity of biological systems.

15:45 Tea and Parallel Discussions. Mathematics Building (Sertório do Monte Pereira)

Meeting #3: Thursday 09/04/2026, 14h30-16h30

14:30 Gonzalo de Polavieja (Champalimaud Research) - Room S2 (Bloco de Aulas)

How Animals Interact and Make Decisions in Groups

Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss what the lab has learned about how animals interact and make decisions in groups. In particular, I will present the main ideas underlying our models of collective behavior. I will also describe the tools we developed to acquire high-quality data. If time permits, I will conclude by mentioning work that explores what kinds of interacting units could give rise to intelligent behavior.

15:45 Tea and Parallel Discussions. Mathematics Building (Sertório do Monte Pereira)

Meeting #2: Thursday 29/01/2026, 14h30-16h30

14:30 Erida Gjini (CEMAT, Instituto Superior Técnico) - Room S2 (Bloco de Aulas)

From confection SIS models with many strains to replicator dynamics: a new framework for theory and data

Abstract: Despite extensive research, modelling and understanding biodiversity remains a challenge across fields such as ecology, epidemiology and microbiology. In the last years, we have approached biodiversity by developing and studying an N-strain SIS system with co-colonization and interactions, leading to a replicator equation. Using mathematical techniques, we have simplified this high-dimensional eco-epidemiological system, finding organizing principles for stability, complexity and coexistence, and parallels across biological scales: from microbial transmission at the population level to multi-species microbiota dynamics within host. In this talk, I will present the model, its key properties, and our most recent extensions, and describe ways to link this replicator framework to epidemiological or microbiological data. Overall our work opens new theoretical avenues for investigation and fresh perspectives for applying this replicator equation to biodiversity, ecological invasion, and health vs. disease questions.

15:45 Tea and Parallel Discussions. Mathematics Building (Sertório do Monte Pereira)

Launching meeting: Friday 14/11/2025, 14h30-16h30

14:30 Fabio Chalub (NOVA Math & Department of Mathematics, FCT NOVA) - Room S2 (Bloco de Aulas)

The interbreeding between mathematics and biology: the history of evolutionary theory from a mathematician's point of view.

Abstract: In this talk, I will give a very personal overview of the mathematical ideas behind the study of evolution, from its dawn (even before Darwin) until the most recent days. We start with the Comte of Buffon, pass by Darwin and Mendel, discuss the evolutionary synthesis from the beginning of the XXth Century, talk about the neutral theory, and finally reach some recent research topics that I am involved with.

15:45 Tea and Parallel Discussions. Mathematics Building (Sertório do Monte Pereira)

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