Invitation 
Scope
Lecturers
         abstracts lecturers (pdf)
         sheets lecturers    
program(pdf)            
Registration and payments
Organization
Location
photos

Invitation 
The organizers have the pleasure to invite you to participate in the disc Summer School on Cells and Systems, that is scheduled for June 17–20, 2008, at the Woudschoten Conference Centre, Zeist (near Utrecht) The Netherlands.
The invitation addresses research students and staff members of the dutch institute of systems and control (disc), and other researchers and engineers engaged in the systems and control area. The Summer School will give an introduction to the emerging area of systems biology, and the role that Systems & Control can play here. Three distinguished speakers will each present a series of tutorial lectures, and several well-known researchers will provide talks on advanced topics which complement these lectures. The Summer School is aiming at research students and staff members of DISC and more generally at control theorists and engineers who use advanced control concepts in their work.  

The Summer School is financially supported by NWO  
(Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research)       
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Scope
Since 1990, DISC has successfully organized yearly summer schools on various topics pertinent to theoretical and practical aspects of systems and control, with an international audience of about 40-60 participants. Together with the graduate course program that is maintained by DISC, the summer schools form part of the educational facilities that DISC offers to PhD students in systems theory and control engineering. The main goal of the summer schools is to familiarize young researchers with recent developments in systems and control as well as in neighboring disciplines, and to provide them with the opportunity to enjoy, in an informal atmosphere, discussions with top researchers in systems and control. The summer schools also provide an opportunity for disc staff members and others to upgrade their knowledge of specific areas of interest.

This year's disc summer school will be devoted to 'systems biology', in particular the fascinating topic of the functioning of 'the living cell'. The pressing question is what systems and control can contribute to this challenging area of scientific research, and, conversely, how systems and control may be enriched. Although traditionally systems and control has been mostly linked to electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering, there are historical links to biology ('feedback' is an important concept in biology as well), and the terminology 'systems biology' is emphasizing 'systems' not without reason.

The program of the summer school will be set up in such a manner that the biological and chemical background will be treated in a careful, course-like, manner, thus preparing the stage for identifying and discussing the problems where systems and control does and may contribute.

The summer school is organized in collaboration with the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation.

Lectures
Main lecturers of the summer school will include:
- Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr
  (Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa)
- Joerg Stelling
  (Institute of Computational Science, ETH Zuerich, Switzerland)
- Olaf Wolkenhauer
  (Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, University of Rostock, Germany)

Special topics lecturers:
- Hidde de Jong
  (INRIA Rhone-Alpes, France)
- Sef Heijnen
  (Bio Process Technology, Technical University of Delft, Netherlands)
- Bert Poolman
  (Centre for Synthetic Biology, University of Groningen, Netherlands)
- Bart de Moor
  (ESAT, KU Leuven, Belgium)
- Eric Bullinger
  (University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom)
- Bas Teusink
  (TI Food and Nutrition, Wageningen, Netherlands)
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Registration
The registration fee is 800 Euro with a reduction to 550 Euro for disc-members and disc-students.

The school is limited to 50 participants based on a first-come first-serve policy.

Registration deadline is May 23, 2008. To register for the Summer School please complete the registration form. 

The registration fee includes:

• Admission to all sessions.
• A copy of the lecture notes.
• Coffee, tea, ice water, and mints during the meeting.
• Overnight stay on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Full accomodation, including all meals, from lunch on Tuesday until lunch on Friday.

All payments must be made in EUR, incorporating all charges, and should be made by bank transfer to:

• For Dutch accounts

Account number: 3127876
Account holder:  Stichting SMBT
                       Het Wedde 45
                       NL-2253 RB Voorschoten

• For other accounts

Account holder: Stichting SMBT 
                       Het Wedde 45 
                       NL-2253 RB Voorschoten
                       Bankname: Postbank
                       BIC: PSTBNL21
                       IBAN: NL17PSTB0003127876

Please indicate your name and mention "Disc Summer School 2008'' on the transfer, otherwise your payment cannot be traced to your reservation. We emphasize that reservations are firm only

• after we have received your registration fee and
• after receipt of the Registration form has been acknowledged.

Unfortunately Credit Card payments cannot be accepted.
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Cancellation and refund policy
Cancellations are to be made in writing/email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Cancellations received before May 16 will be reimbursed in full after deduction of an administrative charge of EUR 35. For cancellations received after May 16 no refunds can be made. Substitutions can always be made at no additional charge if the accommodation is still available.

For communications regarding the conference location or registrations, please contact the disc secretariat: Agnes van Regteren (email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )  
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Organization
The Summer School organizer is Arjan van der Schaft ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and the co-organizer Bas Teusink ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). The organizers can provide further information regarding the program. The Summer School is an activity of the dutch institute of systems and control, disc.

For information regarding the organization of the school please contact the disc secretariat:
Agnes van Regteren
Delft University of Technology
Disc
Mekelweg 2
2628 CD Delft
Phone: 015-27 87884 Fax: 015-27 86679 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   
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Location
Woudschoten Conference Centre http://www.woudschoten.nl/
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Sheets lecturers

- Jannie Hofmeyr: lecture 1: kinetic model
                          lecture 2: enzyme kinetics
                          lecture 3: metabolic control analysis
                          lecture 4: regulatory design