Differentiating from the Crowd Stochastic Cellular Differentiation in Slow – Fast Systems

PhD defence by Davey Antonino Plugers

Assessment Committee

Assocaie Professor Ala Trusina, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Professor Koichi Fujimoto, Hiroshima University

Supervisors

Professor Kunihiko Kaneko

Department

Niels Bohr Institute

Place

The defence is conducted as a hybrid defence.

To attend the defence in person:
Building: Niels Bohr Building, Room: NBB 001-0-EF.000 - Margrethe Bohr Salen, Jagtvej 155A, 2200 København

To attend the defence online:
Please follow the link to attend the defence online:
https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/j/5637986146?pwd=d2libFliZ0RYOWp2Tm5PWldkZmVLZz09
Password, if relevant: 448486

Email address to gain access to the thesis: daveyplugers@gmail.com.
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.

Short description of the thesis

Cell differentiation is fundamental to multicellular life, yet how can cells achieve robust fate decisions despite internal stochasticity, environmental noise, and changing tissue morphology? In this thesis, I explore this question across several levels of biological complexity. Using stochastic gene regulatory networks, evolutionary algorithms, and analytical estimates, I study how slow–fast dynamics and epigenetic fixation can generate and stabilise distinct cell fates, including through "frustrated genes", spatial patterning, and environmental sensing. I then extend the broader question of robustness to developing plant tissues, asking how cell identities are maintained despite large morphological changes. Together, these projects examine how robust differentiation can emerge in noisy and dynamically changing systems.