SMB Digest April 1, 2014 Volume 14 Issue 14
ISSN 1086-6566
Editor: Wandi Ding wding1(at)gmail(dot)com
Note:
Information about the Society for Mathematical Biology, including an
application for membership, may be found in the SMB Home Page,
Access the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, the official journal
Inquiries about membership or BMB fulfillment should be sent to
membership(at)smb(dot)org .
Issue's Topics:
Contributed talks and posters for JSMB/SMB, Osaka 2014
Workshop on Structual Biology, Oak Ridge, June 16-20
BIOMATH 2014, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 22-27
Summer school on Infectious Disease: August 17-24, Finland
Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering Vol 11, No. 4
Pooled Resource Open-access ALS Clinical Trials Database
Two PhD studentships, LSHTM & PHE, England
PhD scholarship: King's College London
PhD Studentship: U of Cambridge
Postdoc Position: George Mason University
3 Postdoc Positions: KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
SMBnet Reminders
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Date: Sun, Mar 30, 2014 at 9:48 PM
Subject: Contributed talks and posters for JSMB/SMB, Osaka 2014
Call for contributed talks and posters for JSMB/SMB
Osaka 2014, is now open.
The Joint Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Mathematical
Biology and the Society for Mathematical Biology, Osaka 2014
Please visit the website:
The deadline for applications is May 15, 2014.
Registration/Accomodation/Abstract Submission/ Page is
Early bird discounts are available by May 15, 2014.
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Date: Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 3:55 PM
Subject: Workshop on Structual Biology, Oak Ridge, June 16-20
Fifth Workshop on Neutron Scattering Applications in Structural
Biology, Oak Ridge, TN. June 16 – June 20, 2014
Application deadline: April 18, 2014
The workshop on Neutron Scattering Applications in Structural Biology
aims at enabling structural biologists to fully exploit the latest
instrumentation and software development at the SNS and HFIR
facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Attendees will
participate in lectures and tutorials focusing exclusively on
neutron techniques applied in structural biology. The workshop is
designed for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty
new to or with limited experience of neutron scattering.
Travel and accommodation expenses are supported for selected
participants from the United States. International applications
are welcome. However the course organization may not be able to
offer travel or accommodation support.
The number of participants will be limited to 15. There is no
registration fees for all selected participants.
The application package consisting of 1) Information form, 2) CV,
3) Applicant motivation letter (1/2 to 1 page), 4) Principal
Investigator letter of support (for graduate students only;
before April 18, 2014.
Detailed information can be found on the course web page:
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Date: Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 7:57 AM
Subject: BIOMATH 2014, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 22-27
BIOMATH 2014: International Conference of Mathematical Methods and
Models in Biosciences and Young Scientists School, 22-27 June 2014,
Sofia, Bulgaria
Abstract submission deadline extended to 15 April 2014
This annual event is devoted to recent research in life sciences based
on applications of mathematics as well as mathematics applied to or
motivated by biological studies. It is a multidisciplinary meeting
forum for researchers who develop and apply mathematical and
computational tools to the study of phenomena in the broad fields of
biology, ecology, medicine, biotechnology, bioengineering,
environmental science, etc.
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Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 7:07 AM
Subject: Summer school on Infectious Disease: August 17-24, Finland
We are pleased to invite students and young researchers to the
2014 edition of The Helsinki Summer School on Mathematical Ecology
and Evolution, an EMS-ESMTB School in Applied Mathematics, which
will focus on the dynamics of infectious diseases. The school will
be held between 17 and 24 August 2014 in Turku, Finland. The core
program consists of five series of lectures,
Odo Diekmann: Population dynamics of infectious diseases
Frank Ball: Stochastic models of epidemics
Thomas House: Networks and epidemics
Michel Langlais: Spatial dynamics of infectious diseases
Troy Day: Evolution of hosts and pathogens
All young researchers working in mathematical epidemiology, ecology
or evolution can apply from all countries, especially from Europe
and the Mediterranean. The school is aimed at graduate students of
mathematics, but we also welcome students of biology with sufficient
background in mathematics, as well as advanced undergraduates and
postdocs.
The deadline for applications is 15 April 2014. There is no
registration fee. For more details and application, see
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Date: Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 1:35 PM
Subject: Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering Vol 11, No. 4
Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering (MBE)
Volume: 11, Number: 4 August 2014
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Date: Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:17 AM
Subject: Pooled Resource Open-access ALS Clinical Trials Database
Prize4Life developed a unique resource for mathematical biology
and bioinformatics researchers: The Pooled Resource Open-access
ALS Clinical Trials (PRO-ACT) database. This open-access database
contains over 8500 records of ALS patients from past Phase II
and Phase III clinical trials, spanning on average a year or
more of data. The data within PRO-ACT includes demographic data,
clinical assessments, vital signs, lab (blood and urine) data,
and also survival and medical history information. It is by far
the largest ALS clinical trials database ever created, and is in
fact one of the largest databases of clinical trial information
currently available for any disease.
Data mining of the PRO-ACT is expected to lead to the
identification of disease biomarkers, provide insight into the
natural history of disease, as well as insights into the design
and interpretation of clinical trials, each of which would bring
us closer to finding a cure and treatment for ALS. The PRO-ACT
database has been recently relaunched with more standardized and
research ready data.
Now we finally have the data that may hold the key. The only thing
missing is you. The next ALS breakthrough can be yours...
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Date: Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 10:17 AM
Subject: Two PhD studentships, LSHTM & PHE, England
PhD Studentships in Infectious Disease Modelling
Funding is available for up to two PhD studentships, to start in the
academic year 2014/2015, held between the Faculty of Epidemiology at
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Public
Health England (PHE). The projects cover research in infectious
disease modelling on topics that are relevant to public health in
England. Studentships will be for three years.
The award includes fees and a tax-free stipend of at least £15,726
for three years (2014/15 rate to be confirmed). The award is only
available to those who are eligible for Home/EU fees.
Please see the website for further details:
The following describes the available projects:
Application deadline: extended to 9am on 8th April 2014
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Date: Sun, Mar 30, 2014 at 4:22 PM
Subject: PhD scholarship: King's College London
A fully funded Microsoft Research PhD scholarship is available in
the lab of Attila Csikasz-Nagy at King's College London to work in
collaboration with Luca Cardelli from Microsoft Research on a
project crossing the boundaries between computer science and
systems biology. A related publication can be found here:
An MSc or in rare cases a BSc in Computer Science/Bioinformatics/
Biology/Physics/Applied Mathematics or related fields is required.
For candidates coming from more computing or theory an extensive
knowledge of biology is required. For candidates coming from a
biology background, we require excellent analytical and programming
experience.
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Date: Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 1:22 PM
Subject: PhD Studentship: U of Cambridge
A 4-year BBSRC funded Industrial CASE PhD studentship is available
at the University of Cambridge in collaboration with the UK Met
Office.
Applications are invited from suitably qualified physicists,
mathematicians, statisticians and modellers for a PhD position
to work on: Modelling the dispersal of plant pathogen vectors.
The Studentship will be primarily based in the Epidemiology and
Modelling group at the University of Cambridge with research
visits to work with the Atmospheric Dispersion and Air Quality
Group at the UK Met Office. The Studentship is designed to
develop improved epidemiological models to predict the spread of
vectored plant pathogens through heterogeneous natural and
agricultural landscapes by coupling the Met Office’s Numerical
Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Environment (NAME) with
stochastic, spatially-explicit epidemiological models focusing
on dispersal, local establishment and bulking up of vectors on
host sites. The Epidemiology and Modelling Group has existing
research projects related to insect-vectored diseases of cassava
(Cassava Brown Streak Virus vectored by white fly (Bemesia spp.)),
beans (Bean Common Mosaic Virus vectored by aphids (Aphis spp.))
both in Africa, and citrus crops (Citrus Greening caused by the
bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter spp. and vectored by psyllids
(Diaphorina citri)) in the US. The student will have the
opportunity to develop practical models for use by policy makers
and regulators to predict the spread of these diseases at
regional and country-wide scales. The student will be supervised
jointly by Prof. Chris Gilligan at the University of Cambridge
Students will be registered for a PhD degree at the University
of Cambridge and will spend part of their time at the UK Met
Office in Exeter. This BBSRC-funded studentship is open to UK and
EU citizens who meet the UK residency requirements set out by the
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Date: Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 2:41 PM
Subject: Postdoc Position: George Mason University
Company Name: George Mason University
Job Title: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Molecular Neuroscience
/Computational Neuroscience
Location: Fairfax, Virginia, United States, 22030
Job Description:
George Mason University
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Molecular Neuroscience/Computational
Neuroscience
The George Mason University, Krasnow Institute seeks a Postdoctoral
Research Fellow to develop and use multiscale spatiotemporal models
of cardiac mitochondria to understand how mitochondrial structure
and function are related.
Qualifications:
The ideal candidate is expected to have expertise in biological
modeling, computer programming, and related numerical methods.
Programming on parallel architectures is also desirable, as is
knowledge of mitochondrial modeling.
This project involves close collaboration with experimental
collaborators. The duration of the position is subject to
available research funding.
For full consideration, applicants must apply for position number
application; and upload a CV, a list of three references with
contact information, and a description of research accomplishments.
These three required documents will need to be uploaded to the
Other Doc category as a single (multipaged) document. Questions
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Date: Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 4:30 AM
Subject: 3 Postdoc Positions: KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
Three postdoctoral fellowships in mathematics of medical imaging
The Department of Mathematics at KTH -- Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH) Stockholm, Sweden would like to invite applications for three
Postdoctoral Scholarships starting either in September 1, 2014 or
January 1, 2015.
The positions are part of the five year program that centers around
penalizing image complexity in tomographic reconstruction by sparsity
and/or entropy. Research will be part of three collaborative projects:
(1) 3D reconstruction for CT for diagnosis & monitoring of Alzheimer's
Disease with Karolinska University Hospital
(2) 4D reconstruction for cardiac SPECT-CT and pulmonary PET-CT imaging
with Karolinska Institutet
(3) 3D reconstruction for imaging soft tissue tumors by C-arm 3D-CT
for on-line treatment planning with Elekta
Description of postdoctoral fellowships
Postdoctoral fellow 1 will work with development of analytic and
trained dictionaries for compression of 3D neuroanatomical and dynamic
3D cardiac and pulmonary structures. Postdoctoral fellow 2 will work
with project 2, employing variational regularization of Total Variation
type in collaboration with postdoctoral fellow 1. Postdoctoral fellow
3 will work with projects 1 and 3 using sparsity promoting L1 or
entropy type of variational regularization in collaboration with
postdoctoral fellow 1.
Qualifications & eligibility
For all three fellowships, candidates should posses strong expertise
in a sub-field of computational sciences (numerical mathematics,
signal processing, and/or computational physics). Furthermore,
candidates should have good expertise & experience from software
development and some experience from cross-disciplinary research.
Familiarity with the physics of radiative transport is also
appreciated. The following lists specific requirements for each
of the above fellowships:
Fellowship 1: Strong expertise from computational harmonic analysis,
like 3D wavelet & shearlet compression and/or dictionary learning,
applied to imaging problems is highly appreciated.
Fellowships 2 & 3: At least one candidate should have strong
expertise from large scale non-linear optimization, preferably in
the context of variational regularization. For fellowship 2,
experience from TV, non-local-TV, Bregman-TV or higher order TV
methods in imaging is highly appreciated. Likewise, for fellowship
3 we seek candidates with experience from L1 or entropy type of
regularization in imaging.
Further information about the program and the fellowships can be
Information about the scholarship
Form of scholarship: Time limited, up to 2 years.
Start date: According to agreement, at the latest February 1st, 2015.
Salary & benefits: Remuneration according to KTH policy for
postdoctoral scholarships.
Application deadline: August 1, 2014
KTH reference number: S-2014-0390
single pdf-file. Write the KTH reference number in the e-mail
subject field, indicate the fellowship you apply for (if multiple,
list them in priority order). A complete application should consist
of CV, list of publications, a brief research plan, copies of PhD
diploma and PhD thesis, contact information for three references,
and any other relevant material that the applicant would like to
be taken into account.
Contact person: Ozan Öktem (e-mail:
ozan@kth.se), program PI
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