| Abstract |
We are pleased to welcome you to at the first Symposium on Metabolic organization in Brest, 19-22 April, 2009. This conference is being organized jointly by Ifremer (French Institute for the Research and Exploitation of the Sea), the Department of Theoretical Biology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Universities of Brest (UBO), Marseille (LMGEM-UMR CNRS 6117), Caen (UMRPE2M, LBBM) and Lisbon (Instituto Superior Técnico), the IRD (French Research Institute for Development), the INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research), the NIOZ (RoyalNetherlands Institute for Sea Research), the IMARES Wageningen (Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies), as all these research teams are involved in research on DEB theory. You are 81 persons (at least!) from 12 differentcountries (Croatia, Denmark, France, Finland, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom, United States of America), who participate to this symposium. Dynamic Energy Budget theory for metabolic organization is based in first principles and is central in biology. The aim of the symposium is to bring together people with an interest in DEB theory and its applications in the various fields, ranging from molecules to system earth, from fundamental to applied, from experimental to theoretical, covering biology, chemistry, physics, geology and mathematics. Few symposia can bring such a diversity of disciplines together, because specialists cannot recognize the coherence. Why should they waste time to lectures on topics they never meet again? DEB theory is unique, however, in revealing the required coherence for fruitful exchange, with the explicit aim to restore coherence in biology, and to develop a fundamental physical-style research program in biology. We seek to develop the theory on the basis of practical applications in fisheries, aquaculture, eco-toxicity, pharmacology, medicine, biotechnology, sewage water purification, sustainable development, economics. |
