Molecular biophysics at the transition state: from statistical mechanics to AI

Name: Molecular biophysics at the transition state: from statistical mechanics to AI
Start: 2025-07-07T08:30:00+02:00
End: 2025-07-11T18:30:00+02:00
Location: Palazzo Consolati - University of Trento

7–11 Jul 2025

Palazzo Consolati - University of Trento

Europe/Rome timezone

Contact

Welcome to the Trento edition of the StatPhys29 satellite workshops! As the title suggest, the event will gather young researchers and leading experts in the fields of computational biophysics, statistical mechanics and machine learning, to discuss the challenges and crossroads that stand before biomolecular simulations in the machine learning era.

Here (and in the dedicated sections of the website) you’ll find all relevant information on the workshop and the venue - although feel free to contact us anytime at biomol.ai_ws.phys@unitn.it.

Posters and oral contributions will be admitted upon evaluation and acceptance, and participation in the event will be totally free of charge. We look forward to seeing you in Trento!

Purpose of the workshop

The comprehension of the intimate behaviour of biological macromolecules and molecular assemblies has absorbed the decades-long efforts of statistical physicists. Indeed, the framework of equilibrium, and more recently non-equilibrium statistical mechanics has provided the main strategy to address fundamental questions on the biological processes that take place at the microscale: these range from protein folding to catalysis, from allostery to signal transduction, from RNA transcription to gene expression, just to name a few. The ubiquitous presence of thermal fluctuations requires the platform of statistical mechanics to solve such problems, and theoretical and/or computational methods have been developed to this end.

Recently, though, a new player has entered the game, that is machine learning. The ever-growing variety of methods and techniques that falls under this term is gaining ground in the toolbox of molecular biophysicists, and with the most diverse scopes: ML can be employed to speed up calculations, to carry out standard analyses in a faster manner, to provide new perspectives on old problems, or even to generate knowledge - from molecular structures to thermodynamic functions.

The field is at a critical crossover, in which theory-based approaches are flanked by novel tools, which come with a threatening aura and the promise of greatness. In this workshop, we will gather world-leading experts in several fields, from applied statistical mechanics to computational biophysics and machine learning science, to understand the challenges and opportunities that lie at the interface between the most successful established methods and novel, AI-based techniques.

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Paolo Carloni (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany)
Michele Cascella (University of Oslo, Norway)
Oleksandra Kukharenko (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany)
Rémi Monasson (CNRS & Ecole Normale Supérieure, France)
Agnes Noy (University of York, United Kingdom)
Elena Papaleo (Danish Cancer Institute, Denmark)

Important dates and information

Registration and abstract submission opening: February 15th 2025
Abstract submission deadline: April 15th 2025
Registration deadline: May 30th 2025
To apply for an Oral or Poster contribution, please refer to the Call for Abstracts section of the website and fill in the associated form.
To register for the workshop, please refer to the Registration section of the website and fill in the associated form.
Please note that both abstract submission and registration for the event require you to have or create an Indico account. Should you need support, do not hesitate to contact us or the ECT* staff.

Social events

Two social events are foreseen during the workshop, namely:

A "welcome pizza", which will take place on the evening of July 7th (Monday)
The social dinner, which will take place on the evening of July 9th (Wednesday)

Please, beware that the expenses relative to both events will be covered by the participants. Please indicate in the Registration form if you are willing to attend.

WARNING: for hotel bookings do not give your data to any external services upon email request; there are known cases of fraud. A list of accommodations, together with the instructions to obtain a discount rates (limited option, available upon "early-bird" registrations) can be found here.

Co-organizing Institutions

Starts 7 Jul 2025, 08:30

Ends 11 Jul 2025, 18:30

Europe/Rome

Palazzo Consolati - University of Trento

via S. Maria Maddalena 1, Trento (Italy)

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