Abstract
Biological distributed algorithms (BDA) is an annual workshop typically held in conjunction with PODC and DISC, the two premiere distributed computing conferences in computer science. The goal of BDA is to bring together experimental biologists and distributed computing theorists to study biological systems using the lens of distributed algorithms. Such a perspective can lead to better understanding of the behavior of biological systems and improved algorithms for basic distributed computing problems.
This year marked the 8th year of the workshop, and we were thrilled when Editor-in-Chief, Mona Singh, approached us about partnering with the Journal of Computational Biology (JCB) for a special issue. BDA has never had any associated proceedings nor journal affiliation and was primarily designed as a venue to present works-in-progress. The partnership with JCB marks the growth and maturity of this field, and we hope that it will elevate the meeting and its appeal. We also hope to forge closer relationships with the readership of JCB and explore more distributed computing problems at the molecular level.
This year, the meeting was held online on July 29 and 30, 2021. The special issue contains six articles on diverse topics, including communication and coordination in insect colonies, neural computations in the brain, plant structure optimization, and amoebots. Each article was reviewed by members of the program committee, consisting of both biologists and distributed computing theoreticians. Articles were accepted into the workshop after one round of review, and were then subjected to an additional round, before publication in the Journal of Computational Biology.
We would like to thank the members of the program committee for their effort in ensuring a high-quality workshop and program. The committee includes Ziv Bar-Joseph, Anna Dornhaus, Yuval Emek, Amos Korman, Nancy Lynch, Frederik Mallman-Trenn, Melanie Moses, Saket Navlakha, Calvin Newport, Merav Parter, Ted Pavlic, and Andrea Richa. We would also like to thank the keynote speakers for their engaging and thought-provoking talks, and all the administrators who made the workshop possible.
We are excited about this new partnership, and we hope that next year will allow us to gather together in person to continue to explore the beautiful world of distributed biological algorithms!