Martin Zach
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mzach.bsky.social
Martin Zach
@mzach.bsky.social
930 followers 160 following 51 posts
Philosopher of science working on conceptual immunology.
Researcher / Assoc. Prof. at Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague)
https://dap.flu.cas.cz/en/people/martin-zach
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mzach.bsky.social
I am happy to announce "Immunology Meets Philosophy vol. 3" on the topic of microbiome and how it succeeds or fails at explaining how microbial shifts translate into physiological change. Both online/in-person! #ImmunoSky #philbio #philsci
September 10, 2026 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Martin Zach
lsephilosophy.bsky.social
⚗️🔭 How do we spark new scientific discoveries? Why do some breakthroughs seem accidental?

The new book 'The Engine of Scientific Discovery' by CPNSS Research Associate Alexander Krauss is for anyone who wants to understand how we make discoveries.

➡ Link to the book: doi.org/10.1093/oso/...
The Engine of Scientific Discovery: How New Methods and Tools Spark Major Breakthroughs
Abstract. How do we spark new scientific discoveries? Why do some breakthroughs seem even accidental? And most importantly, how can we accelerate them and
doi.org
February 25, 2026 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Martin Zach
philinbiomed.bsky.social
Bordeaux Summer School – Philosophy in Biology & Medicine (1–5 June 2026)

Join us in collaboratively exploring the conceptual foundations of scientific research at the crossroads of philosophy, biology and medicine!

Apply by March 15
More information: bss-philinbiomed.u-bordeaux.fr/en/
Bordeaux Summer School - Philosophy in biology and medicine
bss-philinbiomed.u-bordeaux.fr
February 18, 2026 at 9:55 AM
mzach.bsky.social
Jokes on us. #philosophy
November 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
mzach.bsky.social
Veřejná diskuse: 🧐 Co je a není podle laiků filosofie, kdo se může označovat za filosofa a jakou roli tato disciplína hraje v očích běžné veřejnosti?

Rezervovace místa: bit.ly/TAV2025
October 30, 2025 at 11:07 AM
mzach.bsky.social
Happy to see this one published. From interest in the topic in 2017 to first presentation in 2018, draft in 2021 and submitting in 2022. #philsci
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
On representation and similarity: The case of mouse models of cancer
According to the similarity account, scientists use models to represent their targets by utilizing similarities in certain respects and to certain deg…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:01 PM
mzach.bsky.social
I am glad to have hosted Shimon Sakaguchi in Prague last year. I expect he's going to be a very busy man very soon. 🙂
nature.com Nature @nature.com · Oct 6
BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi "for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance"

Stay tuned for more.
#NobelPrize
A photo of a Nobel medal
October 6, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Martin Zach
pradeu.bsky.social
New paper out! rdcu.be/etKdN Experts in #cancer across the tree of life and philosophers of science teamed up to explore how comparative thinking can improve current approaches to cancer, including conceptually and therapeutically. #evolution #ecology #oncology #philosophy
Advancing cancer research via comparative oncology
Nature Reviews Cancer - Comparative oncology combines evolutionary biology, ecology, veterinary medicine and clinical oncology to better understand cancer, for example, by identifying the molecular...
rdcu.be
June 30, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Reposted by Martin Zach
thebjps.bsky.social
A Complementary Account of Scientific Modelling
– Martin Zach

Abstract in alt text or read it here:
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

#philsci #philsky
ABSTRACT. According to a widely held view, scientific modelling consists of entertaining a set of model descriptions that specify a model. Rather than studying the phenomenon of interest directly, scientists investigate the phenomenon indirectly via a model in the hope of learning about some of the phenomenon’s features. I call this view the description-driven modelling (DDM) account. I argue that although it is an accurate description of much of scientific research, the DDM account is found wanting as regards the mechanistic modelling found in many branches of biology. By analysing research practices in cancer immunology concerning the development of mechanistic models of the process of cancer metastasis, this article presents and argues for a complementary account of scientific modelling, herein called the experimentation-driven modelling (EDM) account. In EDM, scientists investigate a set of experimental systems and then integrate the results obtained from experiments into a mechanistic model. While EDM shares some key features with DDM, the two are epistemically very different approaches to research.
September 4, 2025 at 9:15 AM
mzach.bsky.social
Here's a guest piece (credits to @vtgvzdk.bsky.social ) which draws on a report we wrote together for the Czech media (it may yet come out) regarding the results of a national representative survey we did on the issue of how #philosophy is perceived by the public.
dailynous.com/2025/09/03/h...
How the Public Sees Philosophy: Insights from a National Survey in the Czech Republic (guest post) - Daily Nous
What do ordinary people think philosophy is for? That's one of the questions a pair of philosophers, Vít Gvoždiak and Martin Zach (Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences) aimed to answer. ...
dailynous.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM
mzach.bsky.social
Soon... Registration still open!
#ImmunoSky #philbio #philsci
Link: pmpos.flu.cas.cz/host-microbe...
September 3, 2025 at 8:48 AM
mzach.bsky.social
Po dlouhé době další blogový příspěvek, tentokrát na výbušné téma ohledně počtu pohlaví.
Odkaz 👉 medium.seznam.cz/clanek/marti...
Kolik je pohlaví a proč spousta lidí žádné nemá? - Médium.cz
Kolik je biologických pohlaví? Záleží na definici. Evoluční biologie, genetika, medicína i filosofie vědy ukazují, že pohledů je víc — a některé naznačují, že ne každý člověk pohlaví vůbec má.
medium.seznam.cz
August 20, 2025 at 7:27 AM
mzach.bsky.social
"Immunology Meets Philosophy vol. 2" focuses on host-microbe interactions while highlighting a variety of conceptual approaches and phenomena, from infectious diseases to evolutionary and metabolic perspectives. #ImmunoSky #philbio #philsci
On-site / online stream registration - link in comments 👇
August 12, 2025 at 7:18 AM
mzach.bsky.social
Pokračování mého "blogu", tentokrát stručně představuji obor filosofie vědy a k čemu je dobrý.
Odkaz 👉 medium.seznam.cz/clanek/marti...
February 3, 2025 at 7:44 AM
mzach.bsky.social
New book by Maël Lemoine in CUP. Very cool stuff! And surely provocative to many in philosophy of medicine. #philmed #philsci
January 28, 2025 at 8:46 PM
mzach.bsky.social
Jak čas dovolí, formou krátkých příspěvků zkusím širšímu publiku představit obor filosofie vědy, včetně kontroverzních témat jako třeba ideologie ve vědě aj. První příspěvek je obecnější o vztahu filosofie a vědy, k čemuž se nejspíš občas vrátím. Za sdílení budu rád. medium.seznam.cz/clanek/marti...
Zabili filosofii, parchanti! - Médium.cz
Filosofie je prý mrtvá, protože neudržela krok s moderní vědou. Jaký má ale filosofie vztah k vědě? Ačkoli určitá část filosofie opravdu zaspala dobu, obecně je filosofie mnohem pestřejší, než by se m...
medium.seznam.cz
January 15, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Martin Zach
rodrahimi.bsky.social
"unlike type 1 immune responses, type 2 immunity is perceived as a potential promoter of tumorigenesis. Emerging evidence challenges this perspective, painting a more nuanced picture in which type 2 immunity might protect against or even actively suppress tumour growth and progression." #ImmunoSky
Reinventing type 2 immunity in cancer - Nature
This Review addresses the roles of type 2 immunity in cancer and the potential for cancer immunotherapies targeting this pathway.
www.nature.com
January 9, 2025 at 7:15 PM
mzach.bsky.social
It's scary swimming in the great depths where darkness lurks.
January 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM
mzach.bsky.social
Go follow @philinbiomed.bsky.social if you are interested in keeping track of events on conceptual questions in medicine and biology. #mediky #immunosky #philsci
January 2, 2025 at 2:01 PM
mzach.bsky.social
My colleague, Vladimir Havlik, just published a paper in Synthese on meaning and understanding in LLMs - a controversial topic! Holiday reading for those interested. #AI #LLM #philsci

link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Meaning and understanding in large language models - Synthese
Can a machine understand the meanings of natural language? Recent developments in the generative large language models (LLMs) of artificial intelligence have led to the belief that traditional philoso...
link.springer.com
December 28, 2024 at 2:34 PM
mzach.bsky.social
One of the coolest places to do a degree in #philsci #philbio #philmed The training takes place in an immunology lab but welcomes applications from all fields of biology and medicine, and is open to those considering a career in science and/or philosophy.
December 2, 2024 at 1:42 PM
mzach.bsky.social
Check out the new SPSP Newsletter #22, covering biomedical validation, philosophy of science for and with astrophysics, "evolving evolution", Uni of Valpareiso highlights, ... #philsci #philbio #philmed

sway.cloud.microsoft/tvRXL53AU0du...
SPSP Newsletter # 22
November 2024
sway.cloud.microsoft
December 2, 2024 at 9:54 AM
mzach.bsky.social
How did we arrive at our current notion of antibodies? With colleagues we show that the concept of antibodies has been the result of numerous shifts (progressive yet discontinuous conceptual changes in 100+ years) driven also by technology. #philsci #immunosky
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
How Technical Advances Changed the Concept of Antibodies
Shaped by advances in scientific instrumentation and experimental techniques, the concept of antibody has undergone profound transformations throughout the history of immunology. Serological assays, ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 21, 2024 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Martin Zach
jakubmihalik.bsky.social
Here's a CFP for workshop on AI & consciousness that @tmarvan.bsky.social and I are co-organizing in Prague.
tmarvan.bsky.social Tomas Marvan 🇪🇺 @tmarvan.bsky.social · Nov 12
Call for papers for the 13th Ernst Mach Workshop in Prague is up. Keynotes: Anil Seth (Sussex) & Kathinka Evers (Uppsala)

Working on conscious AI? Send us your abstract by the end of February.

emw.flu.cas.cz

#consci #philmind #philsky
Ernst Mach Workshop
emw.flu.cas.cz
November 14, 2024 at 4:41 PM
mzach.bsky.social
Glad to see this book in print by Alex Krauss. I read and commented on the draft. Now here's the final product in open access at OUP #philsci academic.oup.com/book/58964
Science of Science: Understanding the Foundations and Limits of Science from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Abstract. How do we drive new knowledge and science? What are their present boundaries? And how can we improve science? We still do not understand these es
academic.oup.com
November 13, 2024 at 2:07 PM