On Growth and Form: Spatio-Temporal Patterning in Biology
 Centre for Nonlinear Systems in Biology
University of Dundee
Scotland
20 - 24 September 1998


An international meeting supported by the Society for Mathematical Biology and the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology.

The meeting will mark the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson and the topics under discussion at the meeting will be pattern formation in developmental biology, pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems, pattern formation in intercellular systems, pattern and form in morphometrics.

Local Organizing Committee:
MAJ Chaplain, J Crawford, P Smith, C Weijer, S Hubbard, R Herbert, GD Singh, P Slater (St. Andrews), J McLachlan (St Andrews)

Scientific Advisory Committee:
JD Murray, L Wolpert, B Goodwin

The following plenary speakers will give talks:
J. Slack (Bath), P. Maini (Oxford), C. Tickle (University College London), J. Sherratt (Heriot-Watt), A. Hunding (Copenhagen), V. French (Edinburgh), B. Nagorcka (CSIRO Canberra), H. Meinhardt (Tuebingen), W. Alt (Bonn), C. Weijer (Dundee), J. McLachlan (St. Andrews), A. Schor (Dundee), P. O'Higgins (UCL), K. Mardia (Leeds) S. Lozanoff (Hawaii), S. Lele (Johns Hopkins), J-C Auffray (Montpelier), B. Goodwin (Open University)

The conference will begin on Sunday 20th September, finishing on Thursday 24th September. The meeting will evolve by focussing in turn on each of the following topics:

  • On the Growth of Form
  • On the Mathematics of Form
  • On the Dynamics of Form
  • On the Description of Form
  • On the Form of Form

    The daily programme will consist of plenary talks, workshop sessions, poster presentations and discussion sessions. Each day will focus on one of the topics listed above and the invited talks will be of 45 minutes in length, with an additional 15 minutes allocated for a short question/discussion period. It is anticipated that there will be three plenary talks, of one hour duration, during each morning session punctuated appropriately with a coffee break. After lunch there will be one further plenary talk. The final plenary talk will immediately be followed by a workshop session which will take the format of a poster presentation session open to all other participants. We would expect and strongly encourage a significant number to be graduate students and young post-doctoral researchers. A limited amount of support from the Society of Mathematical Biology to assist participation by graduate students is available. Full details of this scheme will be given in the Spring Issue of the Newsletter.

    There will also be a permanent display of specimens from the University's D'Arcy Thompson Museum throughout meeting.

    The current programme schedule is as follows: 

    Saturday 19th September: Arrival and Registration

Sunday 20th September: On the Growth of Form

08:45 - 09:00   Welcome 
09:00 - 10:00   J. Slack 
10:00 - 11:00   C. Tickle 
11:00 - 11:30   Coffee 
11:30 - 12:30   V. French 
12:30 - 14:00   Lunch 
14:00 - 15:30   Poster session and workshops 
15:30 - 16:00   Afternoon tea 
16:00 - 17:00   A. Hunding  
17:00 - 18:00   Discussion and small-group sessions 


Monday 21st September: On the Mathematics of Form

09:00 - 10:00   B. Nagorcka 
10:00 - 11:00   H. Meinhardt 
11:00 - 11:30   Coffee 
11:30 - 12:30   P. Maini 
12:30 - 14:00   Lunch 
14:00 - 15:30   Poster session and workshops 
15:30 - 16:00   Afternoon tea 
16:00 - 17:00   J. Sherratt  
17:00 - 18:00   Discussion and small-group sessions 



Tuesday 22nd September: On the Dynamics of Form

09:00 - 10:00   C. Weijer 
10:00 - 11:00   A. Schor 
11:00 - 11:30   Coffee 
11:30 - 12:30   J. McLachlan 
12:30 - 14:00   Lunch 
14:00 -         Excursions 


Wednesday 23rd September: On the Description of Form

09:00 - 10:00   W. Alt 
10:00 - 11:00   K. Mardia  
11:00 - 11:30   Coffee 
11:30 - 12:30   J-C Auffray 
12:30 - 14:00   Lunch 
14:00 - 15:30   Poster session and workshops 
15:30 - 16:00   Afternoon tea 
16:00 - 17:00   S. Lele  
17:00 - 18:00   Discussion and small-group sessions 


Thursday 24th September: On the Form of Form

09:00 - 10:00   S. Lozanoff 
10:00 - 11:00   P. O'Higgins 
11:00 - 11:30   Coffee 
11:30 - 12:30   B. Goodwin
12:30 - 13:00   Concluding remarks and close of meeting 
13:00 - 14:00   Lunch


    The cost of the conference will be 40 pounds per day which is inclusive of standard single room accommodation, breakfast, mid-morning refreshments, lunch, afternoon refreshments, dinner and bedroom beverage pack (En-suite rooms, double rooms and twin rooms will also be available). There will be a registration fee of 75 pounds per person (40 pounds for a student) to cover the cost of room hire, a book of abstracts and audio-visual equipment hire.

    The Tuesday afternoon will be devoted to excursions with trips planned to visit:

    Glamis Castle (the setting for Shakespeare's play "Macbeth")

    RRS Discovery (the sailing ship of Captain R.E. Scott who sailed to the South Pole)

    The Blair Athol Whisky Distillery in Pitlochry, located in the southern Highlands.

    There will be a conference dinner on the Wednesday evening with the after dinner speach to be given by Professor Peter Slater, Department of Biology, St. Andrews University. Professor Slater is the current holder of the chair which D'Arcy Thompson held.

    A first call for poster abstracts will be made in early spring 1998 and in the Spring Issue of the SMB Newsletter. Full details including registration forms, full details of costs, full programme, abstracts, travel details will be available from the conference web-site (which has recently been up-dated) at URL:
    http://www.mcs.dundee.ac.uk:8080/~darcy98

    or from a link at URL:

    http://www.mcs.dundee.ac.uk:8080/

    Registration by e-mail or from the conference web-site is preferred. However, registration forms will also be available from Dr. M. Chaplain at the address below.

    Any queries or requests should be directed either to the conference e-mail address:

    darcy98@mcs.dundee.ac.uk

    or to

    Dr. M.A.J. Chaplain
    Department of Mathematics
    University of Dundee
    Dundee DD1 4HN
    Scotland


    tel: +44 (0)1382 345369
    FAX: +44 (0)1382 345516
    e-mail: chaplain@mcs.dundee.ac.uk http://www.mcs.dundee.ac.uk:8080/~chaplain



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