Economic Principles in Cell Biology          

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Summer school “Economic Principles in Cell Biology” - Vienna, July 23-26, 2025

Welcome  -  Schedule and teachers  -  Practical information

Topics of the course

The summer school is centered around the topics of our free and open textbook “Economic principles in cell biology” about cellular physiology and resource allocation, and will feature a number of (existing or planned) chapters as lectures. The course addresses students and young researchers with a natural science, engineering, or mathematics background. The first lectures give an introduction to basic metabolic and cell modeling, followed by lectures about more specific topics such as scaling relations and biological behaviour in the presence of randomness. In-person participants will also be involved in discussions around our book project.

Course schedule

Wednesday July 23

Thursday July 24

Friday July 25

Saturday July 26

(Topic: Basics)

(Topic: Metabolic models)

(Topic: Cell models)

(Topic: Advanced)

(10 am)


 


The economy
of the cell
 


Optimization of
metabolic fluxes


Principles of
cell growth
 


Optimal cell behavior
in time

(11 am)


 


An inventory of
cell components


The enzyme cost of
metabolic fluxes


Growth balance
analysis


Diversity of metabolic
flux distributions

(noon)

Lunch break

Lunch break

Lunch break

Lunch break

(1 pm)

Practical work

Practical work

Practical work

Practical work

(2 pm)


 


Cell metabolism
 


Optimization of
metabolic states

Practical work
 
 


Economy of organ
form and function

(3 pm)

Coffee break

Coffee break

Coffee break

Coffee break

(3:30 pm)

Get-together

Practical work

Practical work

Practical work

(4:30 pm)

 

Group photo,
drinks, and posters

Break
 


 

Course feedback
 

(5 pm)


 


Night Science

Break


 

(6 pm)


Farewell dinner

 Hybrid lecture -  Hours are Vienna time (CEST)

Course activities

Lectures

  1. The economy of the cell (Meike Wortel)
  2. An inventory of cell components (Diana Széliová / Pranas Grigaitis)
  3. Cell metabolism (Pranas Grigaitis / Steffen Waldherr)
  4. Optimization of metabolic fluxes (Felipe Scott / Steffen Waldherr)
  5. The enzyme cost of metabolic fluxes (Elad Noor)
  6. Optimization of metabolic states (Meike Wortel)
  7. Principles of cell growth (Hollie Hindley)
  8. Growth balance analysis (Hugo Dourado)
  9. Optimal cell behavior in time (Hidde de Jong)
  10. Diversity of metabolic flux distributions (Marcelo Rivas-Astroza / Roberto Mulet)
  11. Economy of organ form and function (TBA)

Other activities

  1. Night science session
  2. Computer exercises
  3. Pen-and-paper exercises
  4. Poster session
  5. Discussions about our book project

Night Science

On Thursday we will host a Night Science session, a course on the creative scientific process, developed by Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher.

Website: night-science.org
Editorials: www.biomedcentral.com/collections/night-science
Podcast: nightscience.buzzsprout.com (with links to spotify etc.)

Teachers

  1. Diana Széliová, Universität Wien
  2. Elad Noor, Weizmann Institute of Science
  3. Felipe Scott, Universidad de los Andes
  4. Hidde de Jong, INRIA
  5. Hollie J. Hindley, University of Edinburgh
  6. Hugo Dourado, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf
  7. Marcelo Rivas Astroza, UTEM Chile
  8. Martin Lercher, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf
  9. Meike Wortel, Universiteit van Amsterdam
  10. Pranas Grigaitis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  11. Roberto Mulet, Universidad de La Habana
  12. Steffen Waldherr, Universität Wien