A multitude biological and nonbiological systems, ranging from biochemitstry to ecology, have to reliably sense, process and adapt to a multitude of cues in dynamic and noisy environments. Accurate information processing is instrumental for establishing robust cellular function in biological scenario and, more in general, support the emergence of large-scale organization. These complex systems are usually chacterized by multiple interconnected processes occurring on a wide range of temporal and spatial scales influencing each other through controlling and regulatory mechanisms. Unraveling how information is generated and propagated in these systems, how energy can be used to harvest information, and how accurate real-time processing can occur at the level of stochastic trajectories are fundamental open questions with broad implications for our understanding of evolved biological systems and man-made bio-inspired machines. Our team tackles these problems by using tools of information theory and stochastic thermodynamics to solve fundamental theoretical questions as well as to develop more practical tools to face complex stochastic data of real-worlds systems.

Selected publications

Tuning transduction from hidden observables to optimize information harvesting

G Nicoletti, DM Busiello, Phys Rev Lett 133, 158401 (2024)

Physics' Viewpoint

Information propagation in multilayer systems with higher-order interactions across scales

G Nicoletti, DM Busiello, Phys Rev X 14, 021007 (2024)

ABC transporters are billion-year-old Maxwell Demons

S Flatt, DM Busiello, S Zamuner, P De Los Rios, Commun Phys 6, 205 (2023)

Mutual information disentangles interactions from changing environments

G Nicoletti, DM Busiello, Phys Rev Lett 127, 228301 (2021)

Physics' Viewpoint

Living and biochemical systems operate away from thermodynamic equilibrium, continuously harvesting and dissipating energy. A distinctive feature of nonequilibrium conditions is the onset of various selection phenomena that break equilibrium symmetries. Chemical states are not populated solely according to their energy and kinetic effects play a pivotal role. This complex interplay widens the spectrum of possible behaviors and makes it harder to highlight first principles for out-of-equilibrium. However, especially in biochemical and biological contexts, the knowledge of the energy budget and dissipative features often provides insightful bounds that constrain the range of operations of non-equilibrium systems. We investigate these topics using tools of stochastic thermodynamics and stochastic processes, ranging from theoretical questions inspired by the origin of life to a more practical understanding of how to infer dissipative properties from data.

Selected publications

Thermodynamic bounds on symmetry-breaking in linear and catalytic biochemical systems

S Liang, P De Los Rios, DM Busiello, Phys Rev Lett 132, 228402 (2024)

Equilibrium and non-equilibrium furanose selection in the ribose isomerization network

AV Dass, et al, Nat Commun 12, 2749 (2021)

Thermodynamics and kinetics of protonated merocyanine photoacids in water

C Berton*, DM Busiello*, S Zamuner*, et. al, Chem Sci 11, 8467-68 (2020)

Nature Reviews Chemistry Research Highlight

All living matter operates out-of-equilibrium and recent experimental advances made possible the recordings of different variables in complex nonequilibrium biological systems. However, how to extrapolate information from data is a formidable task that involves dealing with many fundamental issues in stochastic thermodynamics. For example, the observation of coarse-grained quantities can only underestimate the dissipation in the system and generally lead to the emergence of memory effects. We study these set of problems, aiming at finding general statements that can be used to correctly interpret and understand nonequilibrium data. Simple models are often useful to grasp the main ideas, while more complex scenarios allow for the exploration of various interesting behaviors.

Selected publications

Unraveling active baths through their hidden degrees of freedom

DM Busiello*, M Ciarchi*, I Di Terlizzi*, Phys Rev Research 6, 013190 (2024)

Coarse-graining entropy production with multiple reservoirs

DM Busiello, D Gupta, A Maritan, Phys Rev Research 2, 043257 (2020)

Hyperaccurate currents in stochastic thermodynamics

DM Busiello, S Pigolotti, Phys Rev E 100, 060102(R) (2019)

Similarities and differences between NESS and time-periodic driving in diffusive systems

DM Busiello, C Jarzynski, O Raz, New J Phys 20, 093015 (2018)