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PubblicazioneBioModels’ model of the year 2024( 2026)Computational modelling is a widely used approach for understanding complex biological systems, enabling researchers to formalise mechanisms, analyse dynamic behaviours, and generate predictive insights across multiple biological scales. The BioModels Model of the Year (MOY) 2024 competition was organised to recognise outstanding modelling contributions from the systems biology community, with a particular focus on early-career researchers and models that demonstrate strong scientific impact, technical rigour, and reproducibility. The initiative also promotes best practices in model dissemination by encouraging submissions that follow community standards and adhere to FAIR principles. Here, we describe the MOY2024 selection process and present the four winning models curated in BioModels. The award-winning submissions span diverse areas of biomedical research, including hepatocyte signalling in metabolic liver disease, cardiac electrophysiology for drug safety assessment, multiscale modelling of intestinal epithelial dynamics, and electromechanical modelling of post-infarction cardiomyocytes. Together, these reproducible and reusable systems biology models illustrate how computational frameworks can advance both fundamental biology and translational biomedical research.
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PubblicazioneHomogenization in perforated domains at the critical scale( 2024)We describe the asymptotic behaviour of the minimal heterogeneous d-capacity of a small set, which we assume to be a ball for simplicity, in a fixed bounded open set Ω⊆Rd, with d≥2. Two parameters are involved: ɛ, the radius of the ball, and δ, the length scale of the heterogeneity of the medium. We prove that this capacity behaves as C|logɛ|1−d, where C=C(λ) is an explicit constant depending on the parameter λ≔limɛ→0|logδ|/|logɛ|. We determine the Γ-limit of oscillating integral functionals subjected to Dirichlet boundary conditions on periodically perforated domains. Our first result is used to study the behaviour of the functionals near the perforations which, in this instance, are balls of radius ɛ. We prove that an additional strange term arises involving C(λ).
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PubblicazioneGraph-based analysis of volumetric image data reveals predominant layer Va-to-II/III feedback in mouse motor cortex( 2026)How precise 3D interactions among cortical neurons underlie layer-specific computations remains elusive. We develop a graph-framework to infer functional connectivity from fast volumetric two-photon Ca2+ imaging of spontaneous activity in the awake mouse primary motor cortex. By converting deconvolved traces into binary spike trains, removing population bursts, and applying an adaptive, layer-specific threshold, we reconstruct a directed, weighted network of ∼1,000 neurons. Decomposition into strongly connected components reveals ∼30 sub-networks of ∼10 neurons, predominantly in layer II/III and often bridging to layer Va. Across six 20-min recordings, we find that (1) layer II/III dominates connectivity, (2) feedback (Va → II/III) links exceed and outweigh feedforward (II/III → Va) ones, and (3) information flows in ≤6 synapses. We uncover seven geometrical and dynamical motifs with characteristic event sizes and durations, revealing diverse column-like microcircuits in M1 with a net ascending flow, suggesting that such sub-networks form elemental processing modules for motor control.
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PubblicazioneSingular perturbations models in phase transitions for anisotropic higher-order materials( 2025)We discuss a model for phase transitions in which a double-well potential is singularly perturbed by possibly several terms involving different, arbitrarily high orders of derivation. We study by Γ-convergence the asymptotic behaviour as ε→0 of the functionals (Formula presented.) for fixed k>1 integer, addressing also the case in which the coefficients q1,..,qk-1 are negative and |·|l is any norm on the space of symmetric l-tensors for each l∈{1,..,k}. The negativity of the coefficients leads to the lack of a priori bounds on the functionals; such issue is overcome by proving a nonlinear interpolation inequality. With this inequality at our disposal, a compactness result is achieved by resorting to the recent paper [10]. A further difficulty is the presence of general tensor norms which carry anisotropies, making standard slicing arguments not suitable. We prove that the Γ-limit is finite only on sharp interfaces and that it equals an anisotropic perimeter, with a surface energy density described by a cell formula.
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PubblicazioneHigher-Order Singular Perturbation Models for Phase Transitions( 2025)Variational models of phase transitions take into account double-well energies singularly perturbed by gradient terms, such as the Cahn--Hilliard free energy. The derivation by \Gamma-convergence of a sharp-interface limit for such energies is a classical result by Modica and Mortola. We consider a singular perturbation of a double-well energy by derivatives of order k and show that we still can describe the limit as in the case k = 1 with a suitable interfacial energy density, in accordance with the case k = 1 and with the case k = 2 previously analyzed by Fonseca and Mantegazza. The main issue is the derivation of an optimal-profile problem on the real line describing the interfacial energy density, which must be conveniently approximated by minimum problems on finite intervals with homogeneous condition on the derivatives at the endpoints up to order k-1. To that end, a careful study of sets where sequences of functions with equibounded energy are ``close to the wells"" and have ``small derivatives"" in terms of interpolation inequalities and energy estimates must be carried out.