QSB2019 is an advanced school aimed at graduate students and postdocs working in quantitative systems biology. The focus this year is on 'morphogenesis'.

The main school will be held between December 9-20, 2019 and will be preceded by a pedagogic and intensive ‘Pre-School’ between December 3-6, 2019.
The Pre-School will cover the basic concepts in cell and developmental biology and will have short modules on mathematical modelling and physical approaches to biology.  


The development of an organism from a single-celled zygote to an embryo involves a tight integration between gene expression, signaling and mechanochemical processes. In recent years, there has been an explosion in studies that attempt to unravel the physical principles behind how organisms self-organize to generate their three-dimensional shape and functional form. Novel microscopy techniques are giving unprecedented views into the processes of development at very high spatiotemporal resolution. This deluge of data necessitates a larger scale systems-level understanding how organisms build themselves.

The eighth edition of the ICTP - ICTS winter school on quantitative systems biology is focussed on Morphogenesis and will allow students from different backgrounds to become familiar with exciting developments at the interface of Physics and Developmental Biology. The participants of the school will be exposed to contemporary research areas, covering a large variety of topics, including mechanochemical pattern formation, regeneration and growth regulation, evolutionary-developmental biology. The school will emphasize how major questions in developmental biology such as stem cell differentiation, morphogenesis, tissue patterning, and tissue mechanics, can be asked with the help of quantification and physical theory.