Massimiliano Esposito, University of Luxembourg, will lecture on "Nonequilibrium thermodynamics of chemical reaction networks and bioenergetics."
Abstract: I will start by introducing the fundamentals of thermodynamics of open chemical reaction networks (CRNs) and discuss how this theory can be used to assess the energetic cost of various biologically relevant operations. I will then present a circuit theory of CRNs which, like electrical circuit theory, can be used to describe complex CRNs in terms of modules characterized by the chemical analogues of a current-voltage characteristics and of Kirchhoff current and voltage laws. Energy transduction in central metabolism will be discussed as an application.
