Mathematical Physics Seminar (October 23rd) – Dr Alan Lindsay (Notre-Dame) – Applications of extreme statistics to cellular decision making and signaling
Abstract: Cells must reliably coordinate responses to noisy external stimuli for proper functionality whether deciding where to move or initiate a response to threats. In this talk, I will present a perspective on such cellular decision-making problems with extreme statistics. The central premise is that when a single stochastic process exhibits large variability (unreliable), the extrema of multiple processes have a remarkably tight distribution (reliable). In this talk, I will present some background on extreme statistics followed by applications to directional sensing – the process in which cells acquire a direction to move towards a target. We find that extreme statistics explains how cells can make accurate and rapid decisions, and importantly, before any steady state is reached.
Note: This seminar will be happening in-person only.
Location: Huxley 139, 3-4pm.