Seventy years ago, Alan Turing established a paradigm for biological self-organization: diffusion can destabilize spatially uniform concentrations of interacting chemicals, called morphogens. Though heavily debated at times, the quantitative mechanism proposed by Turing and his successors has, in many respects, come of age over the last two decades, thanks in no small part to experimental advances. Furthermore, a field of which he is the father, artificial intelligence, offers immense promise in identifying potential physical mechanisms from quantitative observations of morphogenetic processes.
In honor of the seventieth anniversary of this seminal contribution to theoretical biology, we aim to encourage discussion between experts across the many fields, including computer science, biology, physics, mathematics, and engineering, which have been touched by Turing’s influence. This conference will act not only as a retrospective but also as a clearinghouse for open problems in biological pattern formation.