Bio

Luca is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Turin, where he specializes in molecular angiogenesis. His research topics there include the role of collapsin response mediator proteins as signal transducers of semaphorin signaling in endothelial cells, and employing cellular automata to characterise integrin signaling feedback loops. He has a M.D.-Ph.D. from the University of Catania School of Medicine. He is interested in emergence in complex systems and the role of NKS in biology.

Project: Using 3D Substitution Systems to Model Compartmentalizations and Clusters Architectures in Nature: An NKS Approach

Compartmentalization and clustering are important mechanisms present in nature. Many processes, such as the organization of molecular signal transductors and biological shape formation related to specific functions, depend on them. Substitution systems are a particular class of rules in which, at each step, each element is replaced by a new block of elements, independently from the states of any neighbor. For this project, a 3D substitution system was used to model compartmentalization and clusters in natural phenomena.

The basic method is to dynamically select and collect parameters for the substitution system rules in which one or more characteristic clustering motifs are evidenced. Inside the patterns they produce, the next step is to single out clusters that show spontaneous compartmentalization and other interesting behavior.

We also propose to generate substitution rules with specific angle distortions. This method could be applied until a pattern existing in nature is obtained.

Favorite Two-Color, Radius-2 Rule

Rule chosen: 1659751046