[This is the old program from WS 2005/06. The current program and contact information can be found here.]

28 October 2005, 16:00

Thilo Gross (Institut für Physik, Universität Potsdam)
Generalized models: a new tool for the investigation of nonlinear systems

11 November 2005, 16:00

Luca Mariani (Institut für Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Stochastic gene expression in Th2 cell population: a mathematical model for IL4 response dynamics

25 November 2005, 16:00

Marcus Hauser (Institut für Experimentelle Physik, Universität Magdeburg)
Nonlinear dynamics in natural and biomimetic enzyme systems

9 December 2005, 16:00

Uwe Thiele (Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden)
Structure formation in thin liquid films: Beyond the case of a single evolution equation [Abstract]

6 January 2006, 16:00

Mitsugu Matsushita (Department of Physics, Chuo University, Tokyo)
Colony formation in bacteria - experiments and modeling

Abstract:
We present experimental results of colony formation of bacteria and argue modeling attempts for them. Bacterial species Bacillus subtilis is known to exhibit at least five distinguishable types of colony patterns, such as DLA-like, densely branched and homogeneously expanding disk-like ones, depending on the substrate softness and nutrient concentration. We have established the morphological diagram of colony patterns, and then examined and characterized both macroscopically and microscopically how they grow. For instance, a concentric-ring-like colony grows cyclically with the interface repeating an advance (migration) and a stop (consolidation) alternately. Our experimental results suggest that macroscopically the most important factor for its repetitive growth is the cell population density, i.e., that there seem to be higher threshold of the cell population density to start migrating (initiation of migration phase) and lower one to stop migrating (initiation of consolidation phase). There have been quite a few phenomenological models to explain or reproduce observed patterns of bacterial colonies. A few of them are reviewed systematically and critically, based on our experimental results.
References
(1) M. Matsushita, “Formation of colony patterns by a bacterial cell population”, in Bacteria as Multicellular Organisms, eds. J. A. Shapiro and M. Dworkin (Oxford UP, New York, 1997) 366-393.
(2) M. Matsushita, F. Hiramatsu, N. Kobayashi, T. Ozawa, Y. Yamazaki and T. Matsuyama, “Colony formation in bacteria: experiments and modeling”, Biofilms Vol.1 (2004) 305-317.

13 January 2006, 16:00

Oliver Rudzick (Fritz-Haber-Institut, Berlin)
Trapping of waves and twisted spirals in forced oscillatory media: Results for the CGLE and the catalytic CO oxidation on Pt(110) [Abstract]

17 February 2006, 16:00

Michal Or-Guil (Institut für Theoretische Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Antigen processing by proteasomes and its influence on killer T cell responses - mathematical models