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DYNALIFE

MALLORCA 2026

Data, Models and Continuity after Salerno: From extreme environments to minimal replicators and beyond

POSTER

PROGRAMME

  • Hybrid Workshop

  • Location: Universidad de las Islas Baleares, Edificio Sa Riera, Carrer de Miquel dels Sants Oliver, 2, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

  • Dates: from 14 to 16 September 2026

  • Duration: 3 days

  • Number of participants: 25-35

  • Number of participants fully or partially reimbursed by COST: 20

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Overview

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This COST Action CA21169 DYNALIFE Workshop, is intended as a scientific sequel to the Salerno Final Conference and as the first dedicated forum for the collective discussion of data arising from the 2026 La Plata Training School and its field campaigns in extreme environments.

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Working Purpose

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To convert a successful field-and-training initiative into a shared scientific program: curated datasets, reproducible analysis pipelines, testable theoretical models, joint publications and a durable Europe–Latin America collaboration.

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Workshop concept

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The Salerno Conference, “Towards a New Paradigm in Theoretical Biology”, provided a broad final synthesis of DYNALIFE: conceptual advances, scientific results and possible continuity pathways. The Palma workshop is conceived as the next, more focused step. Rather than repeating a general conference format, it will bring a smaller group together around one concrete scientific challenge: how to identify, interpret and model minimal replicators in extreme biosystems.

Its empirical starting point is the 2026 DYNALIFE Training School in Argentina. Field campaigns in high-altitude lagoons of the Catamarca Puna and in the acidic and geothermal environments of the Copahue–Río Agrio–Domuyo system yielded biofilm, sediment and filtered aqueous samples spanning very different physicochemical conditions. These samples were pre-processed at CINDEFI (CONICET–UNLP) and were subjected to metatranscriptomic analysis, with particular interest in circular RNA entities, obelisks, viroid-like replicators, RNA viruses and other minimal self-replicating systems.

The central question is: can field-derived molecular evidence from modern extreme environments constrain quantitative hypotheses about minimal replication, host–replicator ecology, biological information and plausible early-life scenarios?

Palma will therefore operate as a data-and-concepts workshop: preliminary results can be presented even when incomplete; analytical choices can be compared openly; and experimental, bioinformatic and theoretical groups can present preliminary results and agree on the next decisive steps. The timing—immediately after Salerno and during the closing stage of the Action—makes the meeting especially suitable for translating DYNALIFE’s legacy into concrete post-Action collaboration.

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Specific objectives

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  • Consolidate Salerno main results and collaborations.

  • Present the status and preliminary outputs of the La Plata field-sample analyses.

  • Link molecular and ecological evidence with dynamical, informational and evolutionary models.

  • Agree on shared data standards, repositories, authorship principles and publication plans.

  • Design continuity actions, including joint proposals, exchanges and the 2027 Argentina follow-up meeting.

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Core themes

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  • Extreme biosystems: high-altitude, acidic, hypersaline and geothermal environments as natural laboratories.

  • Minimal RNA replicators: Circular RNAs, obelisks, viroid-like elements, RNA viruses and related entities.

  • Ecological context: Microbial communities, host associations and replicator–environment networks.

  • Theory and origin of life: Non-equilibrium dynamics, information, replication thresholds, robustness and early evolution.

  • Open and reproducible science: Metadata, shared code, DALIA-compatible deposition and collaborative interpretation.

  • Potential applications: A better understanding of these poorly characterized mechanisms could lead to innovative uses, particularly in medicine and pharmacology. Examples include the discovery of novel antibacterial aptamers and potential regulators of the microbiota. Such advancements represent highly promising progress toward the objectives of DYNALIFE WG3 and could prompt initiatives that extend beyond the duration of the Action.

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Workshop format

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Invited perspectives and short research talks will be combined with data-quality assessments, consideration of potential issues for future initiatives, moderated methodological discussions, poster pitches and outcome-oriented working groups. The meeting will privilege discussion and joint problem-solving over a dense sequence of conventional presentations.

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Proposed final session

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The workshop will close by adopting a concise Palma Roadmap: agreed scientific questions, datasets and pipelines; named working groups; target publications; a schedule for analysis and validation; and the continuity steps required before the 2027 follow-up meeting in Argentina.

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Who should participate

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  • Researchers involved in the La Plata campaigns, sample processing and sequencing

  • Experts in extremophiles, RNA biology, virology, metagenomics and metatranscriptomics

  • Bioinformaticians working on circular RNA and novel replicator discovery

  • Theoretical biologists, physicists, mathematicians and information scientists

  • Early-career researchers contributing data, methods, models or validation strategies

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Expected concrete outputs

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Knowledge exchange (shared metadata and pipeline specification, a coordinated publication plan, including possible methods and synthesis papers); development of theoretical approaches (theoretical classification of obelisks); book of abstracts; guidelines for future activities (an open-data and code-deposition strategy, a Europe–Latin America continuity plan and a preparatory agenda for Los Reyunos 2027).

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COST Travel Reimbursement Rules (link)

Contact: dynalifepalma2026@gmail.com​​​

Scientific Coordination:

Local Coordination:

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Preliminary Programme: (Coming soon)

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