FROM CELL-POPULATION WAVE DYNAMICS TO NEU ROINFORMATICS

Research into living cells and their communities can be extended to mo re general problems, e.g. what is the algorithm of data processing in living systems, or what is the difference between living systems and c omputers. It has been shown that a computerised system simulating cell behaviour, i.e. multiplication, motility, taxis, can be abetter at im age processing than video-based automatic devices. Studying the dynami cs of population waves formed by living cells is of special interest f or autowave physics since population waves differ essentially from the ''classical'' waves in active media. Mathematical models of populatio n waves are found to feature an additional term describing not a chaot ic but a directed motion of individual cells (''the effect of chemotax is''). Detailed analysis of models like these and related phenomena (e .g. pattern formation as a result of population wave interaction, or s ymmetry bursting of population wave patterns) should be the subject of further research.