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 336 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 January:

Microdomain Metabolism in Pacemaker Myocytes: The Ca2+ Clock Drives the ATP Clock

Speaker: Dr. Manuel Munoz Camus (Postdoctoral Researcher; UC Davis)

Date and Time: Jan 20 (Tuesday) at 11am Pacific Time / 2pm Eastern Time

Virtual Event on Zoom (Meeting ID: 925 8202 5358; Passcode: 232803)

Abstract:
Dr. Manuel Muñoz Camus is a cardiovascular physiologist whose research focuses on how energy metabolism, microvascular architecture, and ion channel function integrate to generate rhythmic activity in the sinoatrial node. His long-term goal is to establish a multiscale research program that explains how pacemaker cells initiate and sustain reliable impulses under tight energetic constraints. To address critical gaps in current models, he developed the capillary–mitochondria–ion-channel (CMIC) framework, proposing that pacemaker timing and stability emerge from local interactions among vascular supply, mitochondrial ATP production, and channel excitability. During his postdoctoral training in the Santana laboratory, he discovered that ATP in sinoatrial node myocytes fluctuates on a beat-to-beat basis. Using AAV-based ATP biosensors, two-photon imaging, and simultaneous Ca2+ measurements in intact tissue, he demonstrated that ATP levels rise and fall with each Ca2+ transient, supporting a “paycheck-to-paycheck” model of cardiac energetics. These studies also revealed heterogeneous CMIC microdomains across the node, showing that capillary density and mitochondrial organization determine the energetic bandwidth of pacemaker regions and constrain where rhythmic activity can emerge. His future program will integrate genetically encoded biosensors, advanced optical imaging, microvascular reconstruction, and high-resolution mapping to link subcellular energetic signals to whole-organ rhythm. His earlier work in Dr. Jorge Contreras’s laboratory, supported by an American Heart Association fellowship, established his expertise in connexin-43 hemichannels, mouse models, and cardiac disease mechanisms. Together, these contributions define a coherent trajectory centered on the interplay between cellular energetics and ion channel function and position him to lead an innovative research program in cardiac physiology.

DynamicsClub

   

Scheduled Sessions:

Date Topic Speaker(s)
Jan Neurophysiological principles of reward Dr. Annie Park
(Oxford University)
Feb Pulsed stimuli enable p53 phase resetting to synchronize single cells and modulate cell fate Dr. Harish Venkatachalapathy (UMN)
Mar Neural heterogeneity controls computations in spiking neural networks Dr. Richard Gast
(Scripps Research)
2026 Microglia coordinate activity-dependent protein synthesis in neurons through metabolic coupling Drew Adler (NYU)
2026 Longitudinal monitoring of developmental plasticity in the mouse auditory cortex Dr. Megan Kirchgessner (NYU)

   

Past Events in 2025

Past Events in 2024

Past Events in 2023

Past Events in 2022