Participants

Ray Goldstein received undergraduate degrees in physics and chemistry from MIT, and a PhD in theoretical physics from Cornell University. Following postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago and faculty positions in physics and applied mathematics at Princeton University and the University of Arizona, he moved to Cambridge University as the Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems in 2006. His research interests span from statistical physics to nonlinear dynamics and geophysics, with particular emphasis on biological physics, both theoretical and experimental. His work has been recognized by the Stephanos Pnevmatikos Award in Nonlinear Science, an Ig Nobel Prize (with Patrick Warren and Robin Ball) for explaining the shape of ponytails, the G.K. Batchelor Prize in Fluid Mechanics and the Rosalind Franklin Medal of the Institute of Physics. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and the Royal Society.

Stuart A. Newman is a professor of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York. His early scientific training was in chemistry (A.B., Columbia, Ph.D., University of Chicago), but he moved into biology, both experimental and theoretical. He has contributed to several fields, including biophysical chemistry, embryonic morphogenesis, and evolutionary theory. His theoretical work includes a mechanism for patterning of the vertebrate limb skeleton based on the physics of self-organizing systems, and a physico-genetic framework for understanding the origination of animal body plans. His experimental work includes the characterization of the biophysical process of “matrix-driven translocation” of cells. Newman has also written on ethical and societal issues related to research in developmental biology and was a founding member the Council for Responsible Genetics (Cambridge, Mass.). He is an external faculty member of the Konrad Lorenz Institute, Klosterneuburg, Austria, and editor of the institute’s journal Biological Theory.

ANA M. SOTO, M.D. (Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Foreign Correspondent Member Centre Cavaillès, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris and Fellow, Collegium Ramazzini, Carpi) is a theoretical and experimental biologist. Her research interests include the control of cell proliferation, normal and neoplastic development, and biological autonomy and organization. In partnership with Professor Carlos Sonnenschein, they posited that the default state of cells in all organisms is proliferation and proposed the Tissue Organization Field Theory of Carcinogenesis, in which cancer is viewed as development gone awry. As the Blaise Pascal Chair at the ENS (2013-5) she coordinated a multidisciplinary working group devoted to the elaboration of a theory of organisms. She is a recipient of several honors including the 2012 Gabbay Biotechnology & Medicine Award, Brandeis University and the Grand Vermeil Medal, the highest distinction from the City of Paris for her pioneering role in the discovery of endocrine disruptors.