Dear colleagues,

We are excited to announce a symposium on EVOLUTION AND BIOLOGICAL NOISE at
the 3rd Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology in Montr�al, July 26 - 30,
2024.

INTELLECTUAL MOTIVATION: Phenotypic variation is the substrate of evolution
by natural selection. One source of phenotypic variation is biological
noise, which can be generated both during reproduction (e.g. mutations) and
development (e.g. mistranscription, mistranslation). Critically, the amount
of phenotypic variation resulting from biological noise can be under
heritable, genetic control. For example, DNA polymerase, RNA-polymerases
and ribosomal protein alleles can differ in their accuracy of replication,
transcription, and translation, respectively. This fact raises the
possibility that the amount of biological noise, and hence, the amount of
phenotypic variability in an evolving population may itself be subject to
natural selection.

TIMELINESS: Interest in the evolution of biological noise goes back at
least 80 years, but stimulated by rapid technological advances (e.g.,
single-cell phenotypic and genetic characterization), the past 20 years
have seen an explosion of work. Today, biological noise is under active
investigation in diverse intellectual communities including molecular
modelling, gene expression and functional biology, developmental biology,
transmission genetics, biophysics, systems and synthetic biology, and
population genetics. There is also a growing appreciation of the role of
biological noise in human health.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this symposium is to draw workers together from
across communities in order to develop a greater understanding of the
empirical and conceptual similarities and differences among these many
domains of inquiry into the evolution of biological noise. The organizers
are especially interested in developing a deeper qualitative and
quantitative understanding of the selective tension between the deleterious
and beneficial consequences of biological noise.

Questions? Contact the symposium organizers Nacho Bravo (
ignacio.bravo@cnrs.fr) or Dan Weinreich (daniel_weinreich@brown.edu).

Important dates:
* Registration is now open.
* Early-bird registration rates available until May 1.
* Talk submissions due by May 1.
* Conference dates: July 26 - 30. (Also perhaps of interest: the Montreal
Jazz Festival opens July 27...)

This is the link to the instructions for registering and submitting an
abstract, and then choosing the symposium of your interest:
https://www.evolutionmeetings.org/registration.html

Please note there is no risk in applying to symposia--talks not selected
for symposia will be scheduled in concurrent sessions.
https://www.evolutionmeetings.org/instructions-for-presenters.html

Please join us in making some (biological) noise this summer in Montr�al!

daniel_weinreich@brown.edu

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