The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts: Large-scale Phenomena Arising from Small-scale Biophysical Processes

The symposium "Lar g e-sca le biolog ica l ph en om en a ari sing from sm a l l-sca le biophysica l processes"at the SICB 2023 Annua l Genera l Me et ing focuse d o n the cross-disci p linary exp lo ratio n o f emer g ent phenomena in b iology. Interactio ns betwe en cel ls o r o r ganism s at sma l l sca les w ithin a system c an g ov er n patter ns occur r in g at lar g er sca les in sp ace, t ime, o r b iolog ica l co mplexi ty. This th em e recurs in many su b-disciplin es of biology, including cell and developmental biology, evol u tio n, and ecology. This symposi um, an d th e as sociated s pe cia l is s ue int roduce d h ere, s h owc ases a w ide ran g e of cross- di sciplin ary col laborat ion s amon g bio logists, p hysicists, an d engin eer s. Tec hno logical ad van cem ents in microscopy an d micro fluidics, a s well a s com plemen ta ry adva n ces in math emat ica l m ode ling an d associated th eory dem onstrate th e tim e lin ess of thi s i s s ue. This int roduct ion se eks to provide usefu l b ackg round informat ion to place the studies within this is s ue in a b roader b iophysical co ntext and hig hlig ht simi larit ies in ideas and appro aches acros s sys tems and s u b-disciplin es. We h ope t o demonstrat e th at cross-di sciplin a ry resea rch linking small-scale biophysics to lar g er-scale emer g ent ph en om ena can h e lp us un derstan d problem s ran gin g from single-cell behavior s t o tis s ue fo rmatio n an d fun ctio n, evol u tio n o f fo r m, and t he dynamics o f co mmuni ties.