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)

Practical work

Practical work

Practical work

Practical work

(4:30 pm)

Drinks and posters

Break

Break

Course feedback

(5 pm)


 


Night Science
 


Resource allocation in
complex cell models

Break


 

(6 pm)

Farewell dinner

 Hybrid lecture -  Hours are Vienna time (CEST)

Course activities

Lectures

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

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. Frédérique Noël, Sorbonne Université
  5. Hidde de Jong, INRIA
  6. Hollie J. Hindley, University of Edinburg
  7. Hugo Dourado, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf
  8. Marcelo Rivas Astroza, UTEM Chile
  9. Martin Lercher, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf
  10. Meike Wortel, Universiteit van Amsterdam
  11. Ohad Golan
  12. Pranas Grigaitis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  13. Roberto Mulet, Universidad de La Habana
  14. Steffen Waldherr, Universität Wien
  15. Wolfram Liebermeister, INRAE