Kirsten Ten Tusscher: Computing Roots

In our lab, we focus on developing multi-scale models for root development and adaptation. Hence a first simple interpretation of the title of my talk could be, that by building and simulating models, we are through computation recreating roots in silico. However, through building these models and comparing their behavior to in planta data, we actually aim to decipher the mechanisms plants use to make developmental decisions and tailor these to environmental conditions. From a perspective of information processing and decision making, the plants themselves are thus performing complex computations. It is these computations, how they are made, how they are wired in hormonal-genetic control networks, and how they emerge from and interact with the growing tissues they control, that are the subject of my talk.