Oscillatory dynamics permeate every branch of biological inquiries, from circadian rhythm at the molecular level, cell contractility at the cellular/tissue level, to animal aggregation at the ecological level. At BSP2023, I came across a variety of presentations on biological oscillators, all of which represent the very frontier of research on oscillatory dynamics in biology.
To name a few, Noelia Jacobo-Piqueras from the University of Innsbruck presented her latest paper in Biophysical Journal titled “Increased pancreatic beta-cell electrical activity reduced diabetes susceptibility in female mice” (Jacobo-Piqueras and Tuluc, 2023); Dzmitry Vaido from the Bozovic Lab at UCLA shared his studies on “Nonlinear dynamics of sound detection in the Amphibian auditory system”; Xiangyu Yao, working with John J. Tyson at Virginia Tech, had a poster on “Analysis of robustness of oscillations in models of the mammalian circadian clock”.
On Feb 18 (Saturday), Dr. Min Wu from Yale University shared an unpublished study on “Coupled oscillators in a contractility-generating signal transduction network”. This project has been spearheaded by Chee San Tong, a postdoctoral fellow in the Wu Lab, who also attended BPS2023 and presented a poster on Feb 21 (Tuesday). With a focus on mast cells, they study the phenomenon of waves on the cortex of single cells that drive cell contractility and motility. In particular, they found that Rho activation in nocodazole-treated mitotic cells exhibited both simple and complex oscillations with periodicity ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
The Wu Lab discovered that complex oscillatory dynamics of Rho activation in mast cells include period doubling and mixed-mode oscillations, which embody intermediate states transiting from oscillations to deterministic chaos. They delineated the molecular mechanisms underlying these complex oscillatory dynamics and demonstrated that the mixed-mode oscillations were due to coupling of two oscillators on fast and slow timescales, respectively. Citing Hastings and Powell (1991), Dr. Min Wu stressed how the observed oscillatory dynamics in mast cells could be an excellent example of transition from simple to complex dynamics (Wu and Liu, 2020), where dynamical systems theory is crucial for explaining the transition and ultimately understanding the mechanisms of various fascinating and enigmatic biological phenomena (Garfinkel et al., 2017). As a dynamicist myself, this exciting work exemplifies recent development in studying rhythms, patterns, and complexity in biology. Many at BPS2023 mentioned how they look forward to reading this study in print!