Ana Bulović, PhD
Life is an incredibly complex and fascinating phenomenon. The more I know about it, the more I want to know, and the more appreciative I am of its existence.
Self-replicating robots with simplified internalised world-models, automated unconscious responses to stimuli, with control implemented on all levels - from atomic to social - what is there not to love?
I draw my inspiration from scientific discoveries, science fiction, and art of all kinds.
I have devoted my scientific studies mostly to research of principles of cellular organization, and am expanding it now to principles that underlie higher-level organization (organism, community, ecosphere).
I am very excited by the current developments in neuroscience, and am working on projects to bring these together with artistic experience.
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As a researcher, I've worked in Croatia, Germany, France and Singapore and have collaborated with researchers from many countries. I have presented my work at international conferences and have co-organized one of the largest conferences in my field.
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Want to read my thesis? Who doesn't? Feel free to download it here:
Education
PhD in Theoretical Biophysics
"Modelling growth and adaptation in bacteria"
Humboldt University in Berlin
MSc in Information and Communication Technology
"Automatic analysis of protein coding genes"
University of Zagreb
BSc in Computing
"Monocular visual odometry for road vehicles"
University of Zagreb
Interests
Analysis and understanding of complex systems
Principles of cellular organization
Brain, perception and world-models
Sensory expansion
Origins of the aesthetic sense
Relation of our world-models to our aesthetic sense
Movement-induced altered states of consciousness
Languages
Croatian
mother tongue
English
full professional fluency
German
professional working fluency
Italian
full professional fluency
Spanish
limited working proficiency
My doctoral thesis
Modelling growth and adaptation in bacteria
I have obtained my PhD from the Humboldt University of Berlin, at the Institute of Biology, department of Theoretical Biophysics, with professor Edda Klipp.
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I have graduated with highest honours, receiving a summa cum laude degree.
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Link to university website: link
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Session chair
International Conference on Systems Biology, Young Scientist Forum
At one of the largest conferences in my field of research, I co-chaired the Young Scientists Forum, and organised a panel discussion interviewing three prominent scientists in the field: Prof. Ursula Kummer from the University of Heidelberg, Prof. Trey Ideker from UCSD and Prof. Kevin Janes from the University of Virginia.
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I had the pleasure of being the panel session moderator for the first time in my life. It was really fun. :)
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYSTEMS BIOLOGY 2022
Research associate
French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment
I had the pleasure to collaborate with Dr. Vincent Fromion and Dr. Anne Goelzer on the development of a whole-cell model of the bacterium Escherichia coli in the modelling framework of Resource Balance Analysis.
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The model was published in the journal of Metabolic Engineering: link
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Link to institute website: link
Art section member
European non-profit science and education organization that promotes psychedelic research and therapy
INSIGHT CONFERENCE
2023
Art curator and jury member
INSIGHT Conference 2023, Berlin
Together with the Arts Section of the Mind Foundation, I am co-curating the artistic part of the conference.
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Link to conference: link
Research associate
A*STAR Singapore (Agency for Science, Technology and Research)
Research associate
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Zagreb
I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Computing and Master of Science in Information and Communication Technology (cum laude) at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
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I have also worked there as a research associate on automated analysis of meta genomic RNA-seq data.
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Link to university website: link