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 September:

Investigating the Bistability in Coordinated Oscillations of Pancreatic Islets

Speaker: Nicole Bruce, PhD (Postdoctoral Scholar; University of Tennessee)

Date and Time: September 16 (Tuesday) at 11am Pacific Time / 2pm Eastern Time

Virtual Event on Zoom (Meeting ID: 925 8187 7068; Passcode: 215211)

Abstract:
Insulin is secreted in pulses by beta-cells located within cell clusters in the pancreas called islets of Langerhans. The pulsatility is evident in blood insulin measurements, indicating that the islet population is synchronized. While the exact mechanism for this synchronization is unknown, one possibility is that synchronization is achieved through a negative feedback loop between the pancreas and liver hepatocytes. Specifically, the action of hepatocytes to adjust blood glucose in response to insulin secretion from beta-cells acts as a global coordinating signal to the islets. Previously, we have tested this mechanism using mathematical modeling and microfluidic experiments, focusing on incorporating a time delay between when the liver cells uptake glucose and when this change in glucose concentration is sensed by the islets. With a nonzero time delay, the closed loop system is bistable, able to produce both fast and slow coordinated oscillations. In this presentation, we investigate the origin of this bistability. Do the same oscillation patterns persist for larger islet populations and larger time delays? Can we capture and explain the dynamics of the closed loop system using a reduced mathematical model?

DynamicsClub

   

Scheduled Sessions:

Date Topic Speaker(s)
Oct Self-organized tissue mechanics underlie embryonic regulation Dr. Paolo Caldarelli (Caltech)
Nov 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
Aug 12 Sleep microstructure organizes memory replay Wenbo Tang, PhD (Cornell) Pubmed
Aug 21 Genetic and Molecular Strategies for Unraveling Sensory Circuit Development David YC Chen, PhD (Temple) Pubmed

   

Past Events in 2024

Past Events in 2023

Past Events in 2022