In his research activity, Emilio Del Giudice explored the possibility to move towards a unifiedview of some long-range dynamics in nature, ranging from quantum field theory in physics upto biology. Such a view is adopted in this contribution by discussing a mathematical model forsynchronized electrical behavior of pancreatic beta cells. The stochasticity is a fundamentalcomponent of the physiological synchronized behavior of this system. On the contrary, in apathological type I diabetes scenario, the cells are destroyed by the autoimmune system andtheir coherent behavior is lost. This phenomenology conceptually links to ideas of coherentdynamics in quantum physics. Possible implications both for physical sciences and for theepistemology of life sciences are outlined.
The role of coherence in emergent behavior of biological systems
Bertolaso M;Cherubini C;Filippi S;Gizzi A;Loppini A;
2015-01-01
Abstract
In his research activity, Emilio Del Giudice explored the possibility to move towards a unifiedview of some long-range dynamics in nature, ranging from quantum field theory in physics upto biology. Such a view is adopted in this contribution by discussing a mathematical model forsynchronized electrical behavior of pancreatic beta cells. The stochasticity is a fundamentalcomponent of the physiological synchronized behavior of this system. On the contrary, in apathological type I diabetes scenario, the cells are destroyed by the autoimmune system andtheir coherent behavior is lost. This phenomenology conceptually links to ideas of coherentdynamics in quantum physics. Possible implications both for physical sciences and for theepistemology of life sciences are outlined.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
