Min Wu (Yale School of Medicine): In Search of Attractor States within Living Cells

Speaker: Min Wu, Yale School of Medicine

Host: Wolfgang Losert

Abstract: In dynamical systems, an attractor signifies a set of states that a system gravitates towards. The prevailing biological literature predominantly delves into cellular states falling under the category of "point attractors," wherein the system inevitably returns to a consistent point in the phase plane after certain perturbations. Conversely, the biological landscape showcases the prevalence of periodic patterns. Recently, oscillatory waves of cortical activity, linked to actin dynamics and lipid metabolism in many cases, have been documented in a variety of single-cell systems. These works concern a second type of dynamical states, namely “limit cycle attractor”, where all trajectories tend to be trapped in a close loop in phase space.

I will describe our work in characterizing cortical oscillations in mast cell, a type of immune cells important for innate immunity. In addition to limit cycle attractor, I will discuss the possible existence of a third type of attractor in cortical state, i.e. “strange attractor”, or commonly known as chaos. Collectively, the identification and direct visualization of these distinct attractor states offer in unprecedented opportunities to conceptualize the architecture and dynamics of living systems. 

Seminars start at 4:00 pm, and refreshments will be served at 3:45 pm. All seminars are held in the Conference Room (1116) of the Institute for Physical Science and Technology (IPST) Building unless otherwise noted.