In this talk, we discuss the paper, “Data splitting to avoid information leakage with DataSAIL” by Roman Joeres, et al., Nature Communications, 2025.

Let $\mathcal F$ be a fixed, finite family of graphs. In the $\mathcal F$-Deletion problem, the input is a graph G and a positive integer k, and the goal is to determine if there exists a set of at most k vertices whose deletion results in a graph that does not contain any graph of $\mathcal F$ as a minor. The $\mathcal F$-Deletion problem encapsulates a large class of natural and interesting graph problems like Vertex Cover, Feedback Vertex Set, Treewidth-$\eta$ Deletion, Treedepth-$\eta$ Deletion, Pathwidth-$\eta$ Deletion, Outerplanar Deletion, Vertex Planarization and many more. We study the $\mathcal F$-Deletion problem from the kernelization perspective. In a seminal work, Fomin, Lokshtanov, Misra & Saurabh [FOCS 2012] gave a polynomial kernel for this problem when the family F contains at least one planar graph. The asymptotic growth of the size of the kernel is not uniform with respect to the family $\mathcal F$: that is, the size of the kernel is $k^{f(\mathcal F)}$, for some function f that depends only on $\mathcal F$. Also the size of the kernel depends on non-constructive constants. Later Giannopoulou, Jansen, Lokshtanov & Saurabh [TALG 2017] showed that the non-uniformity in the kernel size bound of Fomin et al. is unavoidable as Treewidth-$\eta$ Deletion, cannot admit a kernel of size $O(k^{(\eta +1)/2 -\epsilon)}$, for any $\epsilon >0$, unless NP $\subseteq$ coNP/poly. On the other hand it was also shown that Treedepth-$\eta$ Deletion, admits a uniform kernel of size $f(\mathcal F) k^6$, showcasing that there are subclasses of $\mathcal F$ where the asymptotic kernel sizes do not grow as a function of the family $\mathcal F$. This work leads to the natural question of determining classes of $\mathcal F$ where the problem admits uniform polynomial kernels. In this work, we show that if all the graphs in $\mathcal F$ are connected and $\mathcal F$ contains $K_{2,p}$ (a bipartite graph with 2 vertices on one side and p vertices on the other), then the problem admits a uniform kernel of size $f(\mathcal F) k^{10}$ where the constants in the size bound are also constructive. The graph $K_{2,p}$ is one natural extension of the graph $\theta_p$, where $\theta_p$ is a graph on two vertices and p parallel edges. The case when $\mathcal F$ contains $\theta_p$ has been studied earlier and serves as (the only) other example where the problem admits a uniform polynomial kernel. This is joint work with William Lochet.

In this talk, we discuss the paper “Large language models for scientific discovery in molecular property prediction” by Yizhen Zheng et.al., nature machine intelligence, 2025.

Two celebrated extensions of Helly’s theorem are the Fractional Helly theorem of Katchalski and Liu (1979) and the Quantitative Volume theorem of Barany, Katchalski, and Pach (1982). Improving on several recent works, we prove an optimal combination of these two results. We show that given a family $F$ of $n$ convex sets in $\mathbb{R}^d$ such that at least $\alpha \binom{n}{d+1}$ of the $(d+1)$-tuples of $F$ have an intersection of volume at least 1, then one can select $\Omega_{d,\alpha}(n)$ members of $F$ whose intersection has volume at least $\Omega_d(1)$. Joint work with Nora Frankl and Istvan Tomon.

A seminal result of Tutte asserts that every 4-connected planar graph is hamiltonian. By Wagner’s theorem, Tutte’s result can be restated as: every 4-connected graph with no $K_{3,3}$ minor is hamiltonian. In 2018, Ding and Marshall posed the problem of characterizing the minor-minimal 3-connected non-hamiltonian graphs. They conjectured that every 3-connected non-hamiltonian graph contains a minor of $K_{3,4}$, $\mathfrak{Q}^+$, or the Herschel graph, where $\mathfrak{Q}^+$ is obtained from the cube by adding a new vertex and connecting it to three vertices that share a common neighbor in the cube. We recently resolved this conjecture along with some related problems. In this talk, we review the background and discuss the proof.

The now classical theorem of Erdős, Ko and Rado establishes the size of a maximal uniform family of pairwise-intersecting sets as well as a characterization of the families attaining such upper bound. One natural extension of this theorem is that of restricting the possiblechoices for the sets. That is, given a simplicial complex, what is the size of a maximal uniform family of pairwise-intersecting faces. Holroyd and Talbot, and Borg conjectured that the same phenomena as in the classical case (i.e., the simplex) occurs: there is a maximal size pairwise-intersecting family with all its faces having some common vertex. Under stronger hypothesis, they also conjectured that if a family attains such bound then its members must have a common vertex. In this talk I will present some progress towards the characterization of the maximal families. Concretely I will show that the conjecture is true for near-cones of sufficiently high depth. In particular, this implies that the characterization of maximal families holds for, for example, the independence complex of a chordal graph with an isolated vertex as well as the independence complex of a (large enough) disjoint union of graphs with at least one isolated vertex. Under stronger hypothesis, i.e., more isolated vertices, we also recover a stability theorem. This talk is based on a joint work with Russ Woodroofe.

Spontaneous rhythmic oscillations are widely observed in real-world systems. Synchronized rhythmic oscillations often provide important functions for biological or engineered systems. One of the useful theoretical methods for analyzing rhythmic oscillations is the phase reduction theory for weakly perturbed limit-cycle oscillators, which systematically gives a low-dimensional description of the oscillatory dynamics using only the asymptotic phase of the oscillator. Recent advances in Koopman operator theory provide a new viewpoint on phase reduction, yielding an operator-theoretic definition of the classical notion of the asymptotic phase and, moreover, of the amplitudes, which characterize distances from the limit cycle. This led to the generalization of classical phase reduction to phase-amplitude reduction, which can characterize amplitude deviations of the oscillator from the unperturbed limit cycle in addition to the phase along the cycle in a systematic manner. In the talk, these theories are briefly reviewed and then applied to several examples of synchronizing rhythmic systems, including biological oscillators, networked dynamical systems, and rhythmic spatiotemporal patterns.

Spontaneous rhythmic oscillations are widely observed in real-world systems. Synchronized rhythmic oscillations often provide important functions for biological or engineered systems. One of the useful theoretical methods for analyzing rhythmic oscillations is the phase reduction theory for weakly perturbed limit-cycle oscillators, which systematically gives a low-dimensional description of the oscillatory dynamics using only the asymptotic phase of the oscillator. Recent advances in Koopman operator theory provide a new viewpoint on phase reduction, yielding an operator-theoretic definition of the classical notion of the asymptotic phase and, moreover, of the amplitudes, which characterize distances from the limit cycle. This led to the generalization of classical phase reduction to phase-amplitude reduction, which can characterize amplitude deviations of the oscillator from the unperturbed limit cycle in addition to the phase along the cycle in a systematic manner. In the talk, these theories are briefly reviewed and then applied to several examples of synchronizing rhythmic systems, including biological oscillators, networked dynamical systems, and rhythmic spatiotemporal patterns.

In this talk, we discuss the paper “Quantifying and correcting bias in transcriptional parameter inference from single-cell data” by Ramon Grima and Pierre-Marie Esmenjaud, Biophysical journal, 2024.

In this talk, we discuss the paper “Direct Estimation of Parameters in ODE Models Using WENDy: Weak-Form Estimation of Nonlinear Dynamics” by David M. Bortz, Daniel A. Messenger, and Vanja Dukic, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 2023.

Motivated by colouring minimal Cayley graphs, in 1978 Babai conjectured that no-lonely-colour graphs have bounded chromatic number. We disprove this in a strong sense by constructing graphs of arbitrarily large girth and chromatic number that have a proper edge colouring in which each cycle contains no colour exactly once. The result presented is the joint work with James Davies and Liana Yepremyan.

Many natural systems exhibit oscillations that show sizeable fluctuations in frequency and amplitude. This variability can arise from a wide variety of physical mechanisms. Phase descriptions that work for deterministic oscillators have a limited applicability for stochastic oscillators. In my talk I review attempts to generalize the phase concept to stochastic oscillations, specifically, the mean-return-time phase and the asymptotic phase. For stochastic systems described by Fokker-Planck and Kolmogorov-backward equations, I introduce a mapping of the system’s variables to a complex pointer (instead of a real-valued phase) that is based on the eigenfunction of the Kolmogorov equation. Under the new (complex-valued) description, the statistics of the oscillator’s spontaneous activity, of its response to external perturbations, and of the coordinated activity of (weakly) coupled oscillators, is brought into a universal and greatly simplified form. The theory is tested for three theoretical models of noisy oscillators arising from fundamentally different mechanisms: a damped harmonic oscillator with dynamical noise, a fluctuation-perturbed limit-cycle system, and an excitable system in which oscillations require noise to occur.

Given a tournament $S$, a tournament is $S$-free if it has no subtournament isomorphic to $S$. Until now, there have been only a small number of tournaments $S$ such that the complete structure of $S$-free tournaments is known. Let $\triangle(1, 2, 2)$ be a tournament obtained from the cyclic triangle by substituting two-vertex tournaments for two of its vertices. In this talk, we present a structure theorem for $\triangle(1, 2, 2)$-free tournaments, which was previously unknown. As an application, we provide tight bounds for the chromatic number as well as the size of the largest transitive subtournament for such tournaments. This talk is based on joint work with Taite LaGrange, Mathieu Rundström, Arpan Sadhukhan, and Sophie Spirkl.