Participants

Participant Group
Giuseppe Longo

Giuseppe Longo

Cluster:
Agency and Directionality in Development
Project:
Intrinsic purposiveness and the shaping of development

Giuseppe Longo is a Research Director CNRS (Emeritus) at the Cavaillès interdisciplinary center of Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris (ENS). Former Research Director in the Dept. of Mathematics, then of Computer Science, at ENS (1990-2012), he has been Associate Professor of Mathematical Logic and, then, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Pisa (1981-1990). He spent three years in the USA (Berkeley, M.I.T., Carnegie Mellon) as researcher and visiting professor, spent several months visiting Oxford and Utrecht, and has been adjunct professor, School of Medicine, Tufts U., Boston (2013 - 2020). Founder and editor-in-chief (1990-2015) of Mathematical Structures in Computer Science, Camdridge U.P., Giuseppe is (co-)author of more than 100 papers and three books. He recently extended his research interests and works on the epistemology of mathematics and theoretical biology.

Headshot of Matteo Mossio

Matteo Mossio

Cluster:
Agency and Directionality in Development, Evolutionary Origins and Transitions of Agency, Higher-Level Agency and Directionality in Ecology and Earth Science
Project:
An organizational account of ecological functions, Intrinsic purposiveness and the shaping of development, Integration and individuation in the origin of agency, Open-ended evolution and organizational closure

Matteo Mossio is Chargé de recherche (tenured) at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), full member of the IHPST (https://ihpst.pantheonsorbonne.fr/), Paris, France. Matteo Mossio works mainly in philosophical and theoretical issues related to biological autonomy. He published several articles in international philosophical and scientific journals as well as chapters in collective volumes. In 2015, he published (together with Alvaro Moreno) a full monograph on the theory of autonomy (https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789401798365). Matteo Mossio obtained funding for and took part in numerous research projects in France and abroad. He attended or organised over 90 national and international seminars, workshops, symposia and summer schools, and served as a reviewer for many international philosophical and scientific journals. He supervised several PhD and Master students. He regularly teaches in the Philosophy Program of the University of Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne.

Headshot of Carlos Sonnenschein

Carlos Sonnenschein

Cluster:
Agency and Directionality in Development
Project:
Intrinsic purposiveness and the shaping of development
Institution:
Tufts University

CARLOS SONNENSCHEIN is a Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, and an International Fellow at the Centre Cavaillès, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France. He was a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies-at-Nantes, France. For over five decades, Dr. Sonnenschein’s research has centered on a) the control of cell proliferation by estrogens and androgens, b) the impact of endocrine disruptors on organogenesis and the reproductive function and c) carcinogenesis during early development and adult life and, specifically, on the role of stroma/epithelial interactions on rat and breast carcinogenesis. In 1999, Drs Sonnenschein and Dr. Ana M Soto co-authored a book entitled THE SOCIETY OF CELLS (Bios-Springer-Verlag) in which they critically evaluated the fields of control of cell proliferation and carcinogenesis. They concluded that a) the default state of all cells is proliferation, and that b) sporadic cancers (over 95% of clinical cases) are anchored at the tissue level of biological organization. These are the core premises of their theory of carcinogenesis and metastases, i.e., the tissue organization field theory (TOFT).

ana-soto

Ana Soto

Cluster:
Agency and Directionality in Development
Project:
Intrinsic purposiveness and the shaping of development
Role:
Subaward Principal Investigator
Institution:
Tufts University

ANA M. SOTO, M.D. (Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Foreign Correspondent Member Centre Cavaillès, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris and Fellow, Collegium Ramazzini, Carpi) is a theoretical and experimental biologist. Her research interests include the control of cell proliferation, normal and neoplastic development, and biological autonomy and organization. In partnership with Professor Carlos Sonnenschein, they posited that the default state of cells in all organisms is proliferation and proposed the Tissue Organization Field Theory of Carcinogenesis, in which cancer is viewed as development gone awry. As the Blaise Pascal Chair at the ENS (2013-5) she coordinated a multidisciplinary working group devoted to the elaboration of a theory of organisms. She is a recipient of several honors including the 2012 Gabbay Biotechnology & Medicine Award, Brandeis University and the Grand Vermeil Medal, the highest distinction from the City of Paris for her pioneering role in the discovery of endocrine disruptors.