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3rd EMBO Young Investigator Programme Symposium
The molecular biology revolution is coming of age. In particular the discoveries of the more recent years - the availability of whole genome sequences, the advent of high throughput technologies and other technological advances, such as in live cell imaging -- have left us with an amazing increase in data. The analysis of these data requires biologists to confront quantitative issues in order to understand the complexity and dynamic behavior of the living cell, tissue and finally the organism.
Recent advances in applying quantitative approaches to fundamental biological problems were explored. Methods to determine relevant copy numbers of molecules in living cells were discussed as well as attempts to correlate the binding parameters of interactions with biological response. Advances in assessing and modeling the dynamics of cellular components in time and space were covered.

The symposium provided a critical platform for the discussion of the following questions: Which fundamental biological problems inherently require a quantitative approach? Which new techniques extend our capacity to obtain quantitative information from living cells? How and when should we make the transition from the standard cartoon model to sophisticated simulations? How do we build the teams or train individual researchers to meet these challenges?

Each day ended with an informal discussion session with the speakers of that day, giving participants the opportunity to informally approach the speakers. A discussion session on education in quantitative biology provided a platform to discuss the integration of quantitative concepts and methods into biology curricula.

Organisers
Blanche Schwappach (ZMBH Heidelberg, YIP)

Philippe Bastieans (EMBL Heidelberg)

Gerlind Wallon (EMBO)

Administration
Kim Piggott (EMBO)

Speakers
Ruedi Aebersold (Inst. for Systems Biology, Seattle)

Philippe Bastiaens (EMBL Heidelberg)

Alan Davidson (University of Toronto)

Daniel Davis (Imperial College London)

Roland Eils (Heidelberg University)

Jim Ferrell (Stanford University)

Dirk Görlich (ZMBH, Heidelberg)

Reinhart Heinrich (Humboldt University, Berlin)

Eric Karsenti (EMBL, Heidelberg)

Ursula Klingmüller (DKFZ, Heidelberg)

Boris Kholodenko (Thomas Jefferson University, USA)

John Ladbury (University College London)

Dan Larson (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York)

Roland Wedlich-Soldner (Harvard Medical School, Boston)

Andrea Musacchio (European Institute of Oncology, Milan)

Bela Novak (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest)

Andreas Plueckthun (Zurich University)

Michael Princiotta (NIAID, Bethesda)

Ulrich Schwarz (MPI, Potsdam)

Victor Sourjik (ZMBH, Heidelberg)

Ernst Stelzer (EMBL, Heidelberg)

Sarah Teichmann (MRC-LMB, Cambridge)

Lars Jensen (EMBL, Heidelberg)

Matthias Weiss (University of Southern Denmark, Odense)

Programme
The meeting comprised of four sessions to treat methods of quantification, quantification of interactions, time and space in quantification and examples of quantitative approaches. Each day ended with an informal discussion session with the speakers of that day, giving participants the opportunity to informally approach the speakers. A discussion session on Education in Quantitative Biology provided a platform for deliberations on biology curricula.