PROJECT SUMMARY
This proposal seeks support for the conference on Network Biology, to take place March/April
2021 to 2025, at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). This meeting, held in biannual
rotation on the CSHL campus in New York, brings together senior and junior scientists from
both experimental and computational laboratories with common interests in network biology.
The meeting will emphasize new discoveries and provide an open forum for the presentation of
the latest research and results on molecular networks and their relevance to normal and
abnormal cellular physiology. It will be essential for advancing knowledge in all aspects of the
network modeling process, from data generation in experimental cell biology to data analysis
and computer simulation and from the development and validation of network models describing
these data to biological inferences made from the models. The conference will include platform
sessions on interaction networks, signaling and network dynamics, regulatory networks,
computational tools, artificial intelligence and big data, multi-scale networks, networks and
disease, networks in differentiation, microbiome networks, network evolution, synthetic
networks, network engineering and networks beyond biology though the exact program for the
meeting will be assembled after the abstract submission deadline in February 2021 and adapted
to ongoing developments in the field in subsequent years. This conference will include
significant components designed to facilitate the active participation of younger scientists such
as selection of platform speakers on the basis of the scientific merit of their submitted abstracts
as well as poster presentations, round tables, lightning talks and poster prizes. Distinguished
speakers will also be invited to give platform talks and interact with more junior scientists. The
intimate environment at CSHL fosters social interactions and active participation by all. The
majority of participants to the previous CSHL Network Biology meeting expressed that they
were “very satisfied”. Speakers' panels have consisted of at least 50% women; the gender
balance will be maintained in future meetings. In the 2019 iteration of the meeting, a panel
discussion was established to address the challenges of Women in Network Science. We will
continue to address big community challenges though panel discussions in this meeting. In
2021, we will discuss Applicability and Translatability of Network Biology with panelists including
network biologists whose work is deeply influential throughout the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.