Across the tree of life\, one of the hallmar ks of biology is the abundance of complex and diverse forms that emerge fr om the interplay of generative factors and evolve. Understanding these dyn amical processes\, connecting genotype and phenotypes\, is a core objectiv e of developmental biology\, but mechanistic insight has often been limite d to selected model species. In order to compare developmental mechanisms between different organisms\, and test hypotheses about their evolution\, multi-scale numeric modelling has proven a versatile tool. This is because this approach presents an intermediate level of epistemological complexit y between abstract genotype-phenotype maps and detailed models of specific processes\, allowing to study general patterns without losing biological realism.
Here\, I present two different modelling frameworks that a
re used to examine the relationship between generative information and phe
notypic complexity through developmental dynamics. First\, I use a model o
f shark tooth development to investigate how different combinations of gen
etic and biomechanical parameters lead to dental diversity and how complex
shapes emerge within the high-dimensional in silico morphospace. This ana
lysis reveals general rules about variation and the transition between phe
notypes of different morphological complexity that go beyond the specific
organ system. Second\, I introduce a general cell-based model of 3D tissue
morphogenesis and organogenesis combining cell behaviours\, biomechanics
and morphogenetic networks. This model allows to correlate GRN and shape c
omplexity in a systems-independent manner\, revealing properties that may
have shaped both micro- and macro-evolution and the way developmental mech
anisms themselves tend to arrange and evolve\, providing quantitative evid
ence for long-standing hypotheses about the origins of complex animal body
plans.
Roland Zimm is an ex-fellow of the group of Andreas Deuts
ch/ Lutz Brusch at the ZIH\, where he did his Diploma/Msc on modelling pan
creas cell lineage conversion dynamics by bottom-up and top-down processes
. Thereafter\, he went to Helsinki\, where he was a doctoral student with
Isaac Salazar-Ciudad at the University of Helsinki\, studying morphogenesi
s in complex systems and also used models to answer eco-evo-devo questions
in turtle scute pattern formation. After a short stay at the Konrad Loren
z Institute close to Vienna (an institute dedicated to advancing theory in
Biology and adjacent disciplines)\, he moved on to work with Nicolas Goud
emand in Lyon at the Institute of Functional Genomics\, where his projects
– partly supported by a DFG fellowship - were centered around understan
ding the diversity of shark teeth and dentitions\, using modelling and mor
phometrics approaches. Currently\, he starts a postdoc in the Origins-of-L
ife lab with Sean Jordan at Dublin City University.
ONLINE BBB: Link ZIH-Colloquia (https://bbb.tu-dresden.de/b/har-oa6-col- lmy)
DTSTAMP:20260610T153953Z CREATED:20250725T053657Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250821T053841Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR