Course - Quantitative phage-bacteria dynamics across scales

This one week workshop is part of a series of winter schools organized by PSL and its Qlife program in quantitative biology and taught at Institut Curie.

Description

Viruses transform human and environmental health. As the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic revealed, viruses can rapidly spread within and between individuals in a connected population with devastating consequences. Yet, viruses infect organisms across all scales of life, including bacteria and other single-celled microbes. These infections are often antagonistic, leading to cell death and the release of virus particles. But, viral infections can also lead to persistent infections that benefit their hosts. Altogether, phages play critical roles in shaping the flow of nutrients in natural systems and can be deployed as therapeutics to treat antibiotics resistant pathogens.

This course will bring thought leaders in dialogue with early career scientists to advance the integrative study of quantitative phage-bacteria dynamics across scales. It will train participants to model virus-host interactions from cells to populations, integrate robust computational methods into research practice, and bridge the gap between models and data motivated by ongoing challenges in microbiology, therapeutics, and ecology.

For the digital practical (every afternoon), participants will develop computational models of phage-bacteria dynamics spanning cells to populations and learn to infer novel anti-phage defense features in bacterial genomes. Informal discussions and poster sessions will foster interactions between participants and instructors.

Application (deadline April 8th, 2024)

The winter school is limited to 24 participants. It is open to Master 2 and PhD students, as well as postdocs, engineers and junior scientists with backgrounds in life science, chemistry, physics, computer science or mathematics. Basic experience in data handling under Unix/Linux and in Python or R programming is required.

Registration fees: 150 € for academic participants. It covers food and lodging. Some travel grants will be available.

1) Register through the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/BhS8DAaSFy
2) and provide a CV, a 1 page motivation letter (including justification for travel grant if requested) and a supporting letter from a supervisor with “Qlife Phage-Bacteria Summer School 2024_LASTNAME” as subject header to qlife.events@psl.eu

Additional information is available at: https://www.edu.bio.ens.psl.eu/spip.php?article283