This program, held between April 30 and May 1, 2014, aimed to kick-start collaborations between two research groups with many shared interests: the Simons Centre at NBCS, and the Theoretical Biology group at the Riken Interdisciplinary Theoretical Science division, Japan. Jointly organised by Mukund Thattai (NCBS) and Atsushi Mochizuki (Riken), the meeting featured talks by faculty and post-docs on subjects ranging from molecules to signalling networks and cells.