Life of the cell: Philosophy & history of cell research
Funded by the British Academy and Egenis, ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society.

On April 23rd and 24th, 2009, at Egenis, University of Exeter, UK, a number
of issues related to cells and cell biology will be investigated from
historical, philosophical and scientific perspectives. Topics include:
The cell as the epistemic and ontological unit of life; 
The evolution of cells and modes of cellular organization;
Multicellular and symbiotic cell collectives in relation to cellular autonomy; 
Connections between cell biology and contemporary systems biology; 
Health-related cell research, particularly of cancer cells;
Plant, fungi and insect cells that do not fit standard cell theory;
Engineering cells.

Invited speakers
William Bechtel (Philosophy, University of California, San Diego):
Philosophical and historical issues in eukaryote cell biology
Tom Cavalier-Smith (Zoology, University of Oxford): The evolution of cells
Ohad Parnes (Zentrum für Literaturforschung, Berlin):  Organic and inorganic
conceptions of cell growth in cell theory
Andrew Reynolds (Philosophy and Religious Studies, Cape Breton University,
Nova Scotia): Historical insights into cell concepts 

Local speakers
John Bryant: Broader views of cell biology
John Dupré: Philosophy of microbial cells 
Steve Hughes: Plant cells and cell theory
Pierre-Olivier Méthot: Concepts of cells
Staffan Müller-Wille: History of plant cell biology
Dan Nicholson: Cell epistemology
Maureen O‚Malley: Philosophy of microbial cells 

To register your interest in this event, 
please contact: 
Saira Kidangan, Egenis Secretary 
Byrne House, University of Exeter 
St Germans Road, Exeter, EX4 4PJ, UK 
Email: S.V.Kidangan@ex.ac.uk 
Phone: +44 (0)1392 269140

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