Abstract:Growth is a crucial feature of living systems, that sets them apart from most inanimate physical systems. I will discuss how statistical physics can shed light on the properties of growing living systems. Specifically, I will show how to use statistical physics to study growth of cell colonies and how their growth is coordinated with DNA replication. I will show how similar tool can be used to predict how epidemics spread in complex networks. Finally, I will show examples of how growth generates exotic patterns in spatially extended biological systems.