(The school organised in April 2005 was the 18th school organised at Geilo, Norway. See list of previous Geilo schools)

OBJECTIVE OF THIS ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE:
Rapid detection of chemical and biological agents and weapons, and rapid diagnosis of their effects on people will require molecular recognition as well as signal discrimination, i.e. avoiding false positives and negatives, and signal transduction. It will be important to have reagentless, cheap, easily manufactured sensors that can be field deployed in large numbers. While this problem is urgent it is not yet solved.

This Advanced Study Institute will bring together researchers with various interests and background including theoretical physicists, soft condensed matter experimentalists, biological physicists, and molecular biologists to identify and discuss areas where synergism between modern physics, soft condensed matter and biology may be most fruitful, and to present in a pedagogical manner the current experimental and theoretical knowledge in these fields.

TOPICS OF LECTURES
- Adaptation
- Asymmetric exclusion processes
- Biological, electronic and social networks
- Bioprocesses
- Biosignalling
- Braided networks
- Emergent properties
- Energy localization
- Protein networks
- Selfassembly
- Self-reproducing systems
- System damage and repair

Topics will cover both experiments and theory. In addition to about 40 hours of invited lectures and seminars, there will be sessions of discussions and summary. Participants are encouraged to submit abstracts for a poster session.

The detailed program for this school is in preparation.

PRINCIPAL LECTURERS
Barabasi, L. - University of Notre Dame, USA
Beck, P. - Austrian Research Centers, Austria
Hansen, A. - The Norwegian University of Technology, Norway
Libchaber, A. - The Rockefeller University, USA
Maslov, S. - Brookhaven Natl. Lab., USA
Oddershede, L. - Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark
Orvar, O. - Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Ostrovsky, M.A. - Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
Priezzhev, V. - Bogoliubov Lab. of Theoretical Physics, Russia
Stavans, J. - Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Sneppen, K. - Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
Skjeltorp, A.T. - Institute for Energy Technology, Norway (Director)
Belushkin, A.V. - Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Russia (Co-director)
Jensen, M.H. - Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark
McCauley, J. - University of Houston, USA
Pynn, R. - Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA
Thomas, H. - University of Basel, Switzerland

PARTICIPANTS
The Advanced Study Institute is intended for postgraduates and researchers in the field of soft condensed matter, statistical physics and biological physics.
The number of participants will be limited to about 75.

PROCEEDINGS
The proceedings of the Institute will be published in the NATO ASI Series.

GRANTS
Limited funds are available to defray parts of the expenses of deserving participants from NATO countries and NATO Co-operation Partner countries. Travel expenses should be based on the most economical fares and means of transport.

ACCOMMODATION AND TRANSPORT
Bardøla Høyfjellshotel is located at Geilo, a very attractive ski resort, about 250 km from Oslo. Sunday and the early afternoons of the weekdays will be partly free for skiing and other activities. The cost of hotel (cost per person per day, all meals included) will be: Single room: NOK 1050; double room: NOK 900, and cabin 6 persons: NOK 550. (4 persons` cabin may be available). Some hotel rooms will be booked in Oslo before and after the meeting for participants requiring these. There will be buses leaving Oslo Airport (Gardermoen) about 3 p.m. and from Oslo S station at about 1.30 p.m. on Monday 11 April. On 21 April a return bus will arrive at Oslo Airport at about 2 p.m.

FEE
There is no tuition fee but a nominal registration fee of NOK 1000 will be charged for refreshment costs.

ENROLLMENT
Deadline is 7 January 2005: Application form 

For information or questions, contact the administration of the Institute:
Trine Løkseth
Institute for Energy Technology
P.O. Box 40, N-2027, Kjeller, Norway
e-mail: fysikk@ife.no

Students should provide a letter of recommendation submitted via postal mail or e-mail.

IMPORTANT NOTE
All participants (lecturers and ASI students) are expected to remain for the full duration of the meeting