Project for the course Morphomatics, absolutely due Friday 3/3


You can choose a project of your own, as long as it is novel and is accepted by me. Remember that you limit yourself, since projects like this has a tendency to be more involved and time consuming than expected! Furthermore, it is very important that you respect the deadline of March 3, in order to let your fellow students get a chance to read your report carefully. Your report will be presented orally, Friday March 10, from 10.00. The presentation should be around 10 to maximal 20 minutes each. You may use powerpoint if you tell me ahead and if you bring a CD or usb-stick.

Here is a list of possible subjects, but as I mentioned above, you might pick one of your own.

  1. Study the Avida program. In particular make your own norm, n(organism1, organism2), which estimates the genotypic distance between the organism 1 and 2. Can you use your norm to construct phylogenetic trees? Now, since you can go back in history, how does your norm (and tree) compare with the reality?
  2. Find a new reaction diffusion equation, implement it using Comsol (fka Femlab) and plot the results for different times, and some different parameters.
  3. Study the RD-equation from Home Assignment 4, analyze in Comsol how the different triangulation, and different global geometries, might affect the resulting pattern.
  4. Study the Gray-Scott model. Implement it in Comsol, and analyze this model in different ways. Especially look for parameters f, k, which eventually gives a constant pattern with respect to time. Is such a state Turing stable?
  5. Study early development with artificial proteins and cellular divisions using METAMorph. Especially look for a way to construct blastula looking hollow balls. If that is successful, what about gastrulation?

Torbjörn Lundh, 19 Jan. 2006