Events

KLI Colloquia are invited research talks of about an hour followed by 30 min discussion. The talks are held in English, open to the public, and offered in hybrid format. 

Join via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5881861923?omn=85945744831
Meeting ID: 588 186 1923

Fall-Winter 2026/27 KLI Colloquium Series

1 October 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

Scientific Integration as Fit: The Developmental Biases of Interdisciplinarity

Olesya BONDARENKO (KLI)

 

8 October 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

The Role of Conversational Cues in the Co-Evolution of Language and Cooperation

Theresa MATZINGER (University of Vienna)

 

5 November 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

Kin Matters: An Intervention in the Fragile Sciences

Robert A. WILSON (University of Western Australia)

 

19 November 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

Modeling the Evolution of Human Early Embryogenesis with Stem Cells

Nicolas RIVRON (Institute of Molecular Biotechnology/IMBA, Vienna)

 

3 December 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

The Great Holocene Transformation: What Complexity Science Tells Us About The Evolution of Complex Societies

Peter TURCHIN (Complexity Science Hub, Vienna)

 

10 December 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

On the Cultural Macroevolution of Intentional Cranial Modifications

Marcelo SÁNCHEZ-VILLAGRA (University of Zurich)

 

14 January 2027 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

DNA from Archaeological Sediments as a Tracer for Past Societies

Benjamin VERNOT (University of Vienna)

 

28 January 2027 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

Beyond Fear: How the Amygdala Links Interoception and Exteroception

Ronald SLADKY (University of Vienna)

 

 

KLI Colloquia 2014 – 2026

Event Details

Kate MacCord & Lucie Laplane
KLI Colloquia
From Stemness Identity in Cancers to Germline Identity in Metazoans
Kate MACCORD (Marine Biol. Lab, Woods Hole) & Lucie LAPLANE (Université Paris 1)
2019-12-03 17:00 - 2019-12-03 18:30
KLI
Organized by KLI

Topic description / abstract:

Stem cells regroup a diversity of cells raising the question of what it is exactly that make them be stem cells. To address this question, we will analyse stemness, the defining properties of stem cells. We will first show that stemness can be four different types of property (a categorical, a dispositional, a relational, or a systemic property) depending on the stem cell type. Then we will show how this philosophical characterization of stemness matters for science and medicine with the concrete example of cancer treatment.
In the second part of our paired talk, we apply Lucie’s ontology of stemness to the problem of germline identity in Metazoans in order to address the question: how does a cell become a germ cell? We begin with an overview of how germline identity and specification are conceived of within metazoans, and explore the application of the stemness ontology through the example of C. elegans.
 
Biographical note:
 
Lucie Laplane is permanent researcher at CNRS, at the Institut d’Histoire et philosophie des Science et des techniques (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne). She also works in a unit of biology (“Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis”) at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center. She is a philosopher, with a background in biology (Master 2 in Stem Cell Biology). She works on stem cells and cancer, in particular on the concepts of cancer stem cells, clonal evolution, and tumor microenvironment.
 

Kate Maccord is the Program Administrator and McDonnell Fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole (MA) where she runs the McDonnell Initiative, which brings historians and philosophers of science into collaboration with life scientists in order to transform the research of both fields. Kate’s research in history and philosophy of science aims to uncover historically entrenched assumptions in current science and explore the repercussions of these assumptions. Her goal is to use history and philosophy of science to transform and accelerate scientific research. Kate focuses especially on germline research and human genome editing.