Launched in 2022, Dynamics Club is a UCLA-based forum for junior scientists to discuss nonlinear dynamics in biology and physiology. Starting from 2024, this is also the home for the Interoception Dynamics Affinity Group.

Our monthly seminars are mostly on Zoom, with hybrid access to in-person events. Campus visits are made possible by the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP), Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences (QCBio) and Brain Research Institute (BRI).

Currently, we have 340 members. If you’re new, sign up here!

   

Job opportunities:

   

Key References (PDFs are available online):

Modeling Life by Alan Garfinkel, Jane Shetsov and Yina Guo (Teaching Materials)

   

Dynamics Club in July:

Guest Lecture: Emerging roles of transcriptional condensates as temporal signal integrators

Speaker: Kirstin Meyer, PhD (Assistant Professor; Yale University)

Date and Time: TBA at 11am Pacific Time / 2pm Eastern Time

Virtual event on Zoom (Meeting ID: –; Passcode: –)

Abstract:
Transcription factors relay information from the external environment to gene regulatory networks that control cell physiology. To confer signalling specificity, robustness and coordination, these signalling networks use temporal communication codes, such as the amplitude, duration or frequency of signals. Although much is known about how temporal information is encoded, a mechanistic understanding of how gene regulatory networks decode signalling dynamics is lacking. Recent advances in our understanding of phase separation of transcriptional condensates provide new biophysical frameworks for both temporal encoding and decoding mechanisms. In this Perspective, we summarize the mechanisms by which transcriptional condensates could enable temporal decoding through signal adaptation, memory and persistence. We further outline methods to probe and manipulate dynamic communication codes of transcription factors and condensates to rationally control gene activation.

DynamicsClub

   

Scheduled Sessions:

Date Topic Speaker(s)
Aug Sleep microstructure organizes memory replay Dr. Wenbo Tang
(Cornell University)
Aug 21 Coordination and propagation of cell fate choice in neural circuit assembly Dr. David Chen
(Temple University)
Sep A mechanism for slow rhythms in coordinated pancreatic islet activity Dr. Nicole Bruce (University of Tennessee)
Oct Self-organized tissue mechanics underlie embryonic regulation Dr. Paolo Caldarelli (Caltech)
Oct Neurophysiological principles of reward Dr. Annie Park
(Oxford University)
2025 Robust and resource-optimal dynamic pattern formation of Min proteins in vivo Michael Sandler
(UCSD)
2025 Longitudinal monitoring of developmental plasticity in the mouse auditory cortex Dr. Megan Kirchgessner (NYU)

Past Events in 2025:

Date Topic Speaker(s) Materials
Jan 22 Imaging cAMP Signaling Dynamics in the Heart: Exploring Sympathetic Responses in Real Time Jessica Caldwell, PhD (UC Davis) Pubmed
Feb 7 State-Dependent Taste Modulation: Mechanisms of Sodium Appetite and Tolerance Yameng Zhang (Oka Lab; Caltech) Pubmed
Mar 5 Cell signaling in “4D”: Dynamic p53 post-translational modifications regulate cell fate Dan Lu, PhD (Harvard Medical School) Pubmed
Mar 20 Exploring the developmental roles of glia in the heart Sarah Light, PhD (Notre Dame) Pubmed
Apr 30 Detecting patterns and disruptions in spontaneous physiological fluctuations in the kidney using MRI Edwin Baldelomar, PhD (WashU) Pubmed
May 7 Sleep is for brain cleaning: investigating drivers of the glymphatic system Natalie Hauglund, PhD (Oxford) Pubmed
Jun 12 Mechano-Electro-Chemical Coupling in Neuromodulation and Neuronal Injury Casey Adam, DPhil (Purdue) Link

   

Past Events in 2024

Past Events in 2023

Past Events in 2022