SMB Digest June 10, 2015 Volume 15 Issue 23
ISSN 1086-6566
Editor: Richard Schugart richard(dot)schugart(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,
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Access the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, the official journal of
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Issue's Topics:
Conference: Evolutionary Demography..., Oct 5-7, Netherlands
Conference: ...Communicable Diseases, Jan 11-14, Rio de Janeiro
Newsletter: NIMBioS, U Tennessee
PhD Positions: Mathematics & Statistics, Barcelona Grad School
Post-doc: Model Schistosomiasis..., Case Western Reserve U
Post-doc: Data Analyst: Environment & Human Health, Harvard U
Lecturer: Applied Mathematics, U Liverpool
NIH: Selected NIH Intramural Research & Other Openings
NIH: Funding Opportunity 2016 - Transformative Research Awards
SMBnet Reminders
----------------------------------------------------
From: Hal Caswell <hcaswell@whoi.edu>
Date: June 3, 2015 at 7:00:00 AM
Subject: Conference: Evolutionary Demography..., Oct 5-7, Netherlands
Evolutionary Demography Society 2015 Annual Meeting
5-7 October 2015
CongresCentrum de Werelt, Lunteren, The Netherlands
EvoDemoS 2015 seeks to bring together researchers interested in all
aspects of the interface between evolution and demography. This includes
the evolution of demographic and life history traits, and the influence
of demographic characteristics on the process of evolution. Theoretical,
experimental, and field approaches are welcome, as are studies of
plants, animals, and humans. Members of the Evolutionary Demography
Society include human demographers, population biologists,
anthropologists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, biomedical
scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians.
Abstract submission deadline 15 July 2015.
Call for papers is at: http://www.evodemos.org/meetings.htm
Online registration is at: http://www.aanmelder.nl/eds2015/subscribe
Information on the location is at: http://www.congrescentrum.com/en/
Any questions? Contact the organizing committee:
Nienke Hartemink - N.A.Hartemink@uva.nl
Hal Caswell - h.caswell@uva.nl
----------------------------------------------------
From: bliman <pierre-alexandre.bliman@inria.fr>
Date: June 9, 2015 at 7:05:27 PM
Subject: Conference: ...Communicable Diseases, Jan 11-14, Rio de Janeiro
Conference on Mathematical Modeling and Control of Communicable Diseases
January 11-14, 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Conference on Mathematical Modeling and Control of Communicable
Diseases will be held from Monday through Thursday, January 11-14, 2016
at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Conference
will take place in the emblematic building of FGV created by the
architect Oscar Niemeyer in Praia de Botafogo, on the shore of Guanabara
Bay, at the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain. Mini-courses will be held on
Monday, January 11, talks and poster presentation will take place from
Tuesday 12 to Thursday 14. The conference will followed by satellite
events on Friday, January 15, including the annual meeting of the
Brazilian network for modeling of Dengue fever.
The preliminary website is http://www.fgv.br/math-epidemics/. This site
will be updated with further information. This site will be updated with
further information.
The contact email address is emap.eventos@fgv.br
Invited Speakers
Plenaries (confirmed):
-Nicolas Bacaër, IRD, Bondy e UPMC, Paris, France
-Nick Britton, University of Bath, UK
-Bernard Cazelles, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
-Cláudia Codeço, Fiocruz, Brazil
-Vittoria Colizza, INSERM e UPMC, Paris, France, e ISI Fundation, Turin,
Italy
-Christl Donnelly, Imperial College of London, UK
-Aaron King, University of Michigan, USA
-Eduardo Massad, USP, São Paulo, Brazil
-Mercedes Pascual, University of Chicago, USA
-Michael Turelli, University of California, Davis, USA
Mini Courses (confirmed):
-Patrick De Leenheer, Oregon State University, USA
-Karl Sigmund, University of Vienna, Austria
-Michael Li, University of Alberta, Canada
Important Dates:
Abstract submission deadline: August 24th, 2015
Author notification deadline: October 9th, 2015
Final manuscripts due: November 9th, 2015
Author registration deadline: December 10th, 2015
Early bird registration deadline: December 10th, 2015
Mini-courses: January 11th, 2016
Conference: January 12th-14th, 2016
Satellite events: January 15th, 2016
----------------------------------------------------
From: NIMBioS <newsletter@nimbios.org>
Date: June 4, 2015 at 10:13:28 AM
Subject: Newsletter: NIMBioS, U Tennessee
For the NIMBioS bi-monthly newsletter, see
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Bi-Monthly-News-from-NIMBioS.html?soid=1102610363105&aid=loOb-IGLl6A
----------------------------------------------------
From: Tomas Alarcon <tomasalarc@gmail.com>
Date: June 10, 2015 at 6:09:58 AM
Subject: PhD Positions: Mathematics & Statistics, Barcelona Grad School
Below please find the call for 4 PhD scholarships within the
BGSMath/Maria de Maeztu programme in different areas of Mathematics,
including Mathematics and Statistics for Life and Social Sciences.
Interested candidates within this area are encouraged to contact either
of the researchers involved:
-Tomas Alarcon, talarcon@crm.cat.
Area of expertise: multi-scale modelling of tumour growth.
-Angel Calsina, acalsina@mat.uab.es.
Area of expertise: structured population dynamics, selection-mutation
equations
-Marta Casanellas, marta.casanellas@upc.edu.
Area of expertise: algebraic and geometric tools in phylogenetics
-Guadalupe Gomez, lupe.gomez@upc.edu.
Area of expertise: survival analysis, statistical methods for omics data
integration, statistical genetics, functional data analysis,
bioinformatics
-Pere Puig, ppuig@mat.uab.cat.
Area of expertise: characterisation of distributions, count data
modelling, count data time series, extreme value theory
-Alex Roxin, aroxin@crm.cat.
Area of expertise: computational neuroscience
The program BGSMath/Maria de Maeztu will very soon call for applications
for 4 PhD scholarships in mathematics in the areas
-Algebra, Geometry and Topology
-Analysis, PDEs and Probability
-Mathematics and Statistics for Life and Social Sciences
-Dynamical Systems
The duration of the scholarships is four years and the gross salary is
about 16.500 euros/year.
These will be the first PhD contracts offered by the Barcelona Graduate
School in Mathematics (http://www.bgsmath.cat), through the recently
obtained grant "Maria de Maeztu". BGSMath students can choose to work
with any of the research groups in mathematics in the Barcelona area, as
well as participating in the activities offered by the three member
universities and the CRM. For this particular call, the chosen research
groups should be in the areas above, understood in a broad sense.
The official call will appear about June 15th and the deadline will
probably be June 30th, so time is short.
These contracts come directly from the Ministry of Science, hence the
regulation is the official one for these type of calls: The applicants
will need to have their official transcripts translated to Spanish
(English and French could be ok too) and must have been accepted in (or
at least need to have sent an application to) a PhD program at one of
the member universities (UB, UAB or UPC). As soon as the call is
launched a link will be available at the bgsmath website
http://www.bgsmath.cat
Please let us know if you have a strong candidate and we will be glad
to help her/him through the application process.
----------------------------------------------------
From: David Gurarie <dxg5@case.edu>
Date: May 30, 2015 at 11:52:10 AM
Subject: Post-doc: Model Schistosomiasis..., Case Western Reserve U
Postdoctoral opportunity: Modeling ecology, transmission, control of
schistosomiasis in complex environments.
Applications are being accepted for a 2-4 year postdoctoral position to
join a multi-institutional team (CWRU, Yale University, Erasmus MC,
Netherlands).
The overarching goal of this project is to model schistosomiasis
transmission in complex environments and realistic host demographics,
and apply such systems for prediction and control analysis. The models
will range in scope from individual-based in-host biology, to
population-based distributed human-snail systems. Different intervention
strategies will be explored combining drug therapies with snail control.
New methodologies and computers tools will be developed for such
systems, and applied to multiple data sets collected in several
countries. Sub-projects include: developing new epidemiological
approaches to human infection, snail population biology, case studies,
statistical methods and algorithms, and software codes and tools.
Qualified applicants will have a PhD in applied mathematics,
quantitative ecology, epidemiology, biostatistics, physical sciences,
computational statistics or related quantitative discipline. Computer
skills and experience with data analysis are important, in particular
familiarity with Wolfram Mathematica.
Successful applicants will be based at the Case Western Reserve
University (Drs D. Gurarie, C. King), but they will collaborate with
Yale group (Dr. A. Galvani), and Erasmus MC (Dr. S. DeVlas). To apply,
send CV and covering letter to dxg5@case.edu. The letter should include
a description of research interests, contact information for three
references, and any preferences for location of employment. Also
describe any relevant skills and prior research experience.
Review of applications will begin on 1 June 2015 and continue until
position is filled.
----------------------------------------------------
From: Christopher Golden <chrisgolden05@gmail.com>
Date: June 10, 2015 at 2:30:36 AM
Subject: Post-doc: Data Analyst: Environment & Human Health, Harvard U
Job Advertisement: Data Analyst: Environment and Human Health
Search: We are looking to hire a post-doctoral researcher with a strong
quantitative, (bio)statistical, and/or epidemiological background to
integrate several databases for complex systems analysis.
Project Description: We have recently received a 2-3 year research grant
to study the intersection of global fisheries declines and the
destabilization of local to global food security, leading to drastic
changes in human nutrition. Our research will answer the following four
questions: 1) what is the current role of seafood in maintaining macro
and micro-nutrient nutrition for populations around the world; 2) how
will projected changes in global fish stocks affect human nutrition;
3) which populations have the greatest nutritional vulnerability to
changes in the status of fisheries; and 4) which marine conservation and
fisheries management strategies would pay the largest health dividends
at a variety of scales from local to global? One of the centerpiece
products of this effort will be an analytic framework and architecture
that will allow decision-makers to calculate the health implications of
different marine management strategies at a variety of scales from local
to global. To perform this work, we have assembled a group of
specialists whose expertise ranges across several disciplines from
climate modeling and fisheries ecology to resource/development economics
and nutritional epidemiology. By modeling shifts in diets based on
changes in access to fisheries, we can estimate per capita changes in
fish consumption and calculate changes in the prevalence of risk for a
variety of micronutrient deficiencies (i.e. iron, zinc, vitamin B12,
omega-3 fatty acids). Using this modeling approach, we can estimate
shifts in burdens of disease for particular populations associated with
either increased or decreased access to seafood in the diet. Such
estimates will allow decision makers to calculate, for the first time,
the public health implications of their management decisions, creating
policy tools that have the potential to revolutionize how we think about
fisheries management, how we internalize health costs into marine
management, and how we improve food insecurity in the Global South.
The post-doctoral researcher will be based at the Harvard School of
Public Health and/or the Harvard University Center for the Environment
and work closely with Dr. Chris Golden (PI) and Dr. Sam Myers (co-PI).
The post-doc will lead the health modeling of this working group and
will liaise with experts from UBC, UCSB, and UW (and their post-doc) who
will do the environmental and economic modeling. This research
fellowship will last for 1 year and be renewable for a second year.
Salary will be $74K per year of which $18K is designated for benefits
(take-home salary roughly $56K). At Harvard, we have a rich community of
researchers investigating the interrelationship of ecosystem
transformation and human health and we believe the post-doc will find
the community of scholars an inspiring one.
Skills/Background Experience:
-Strong statistical and quantitative analysis background required.
Preference for working in Stata or R
-Preference for training in epidemiology, biostatistics, complex systems
analysis, quantitative methods, or related fields
-Preference for experience working with large datasets and integrating
multiple kinds of data in an analytic framework.
To apply: Please submit a CV and brief cover letter detailing relevant
experience and reason for interest in the project to Dr. Chris Golden
(golden@hsph.harvard.edu). Please also send the names of three
references. Interviewing and hiring will take place prior to July 30th.
Position will start around September 1, 2015.
----------------------------------------------------
From: Sharkey, Kieran <K.J.Sharkey@liverpool.ac.uk>
Date: June 7, 2015 at 1:01:00 AM
Subject: Lecturer: Applied Mathematics, U Liverpool
Lecturer (equivalent to Assistant Professor) in Applied Mathematics.
University of Liverpool, UK
The Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Liverpool
is seeking to appoint a Lecturer in the area of Applied Mathematics.
Individuals with a record of success in interdisciplinary modelling
projects in areas such as mathematical biology, mathematical imaging,
homogenisation and multi-scale modelling are particularly encouraged to
apply. Further details can be found here:
https://www.liv.ac.uk/working/jobvacancies/currentvacancies/academic/a-588061/
Closing date: 3rd July 2015
----------------------------------------------------
From: Owens, Roland (NIH/OD) [E] <owensrol@mail.nih.gov>
Date: June 3, 2015 at 9:07:50 AM
Re-Sent From: Raymond Mejía <digest.ray@gmail.com>
Subject: NIH: Selected NIH Intramural Research & Other Openings
Tenure-Track/Tenure-Eligible Investigator
Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, NCI-DCEG
(deadline: July 1)
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a major component of the NIH and
the Department of Health and Human Services, is recruiting a descriptive
epidemiologist for a tenure-track or tenure-eligible position available
in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program of the Division of Cancer
Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG). Descriptive epidemiology is used in
its broad definition, including but not restricted to cancer
surveillance research, population-based cancer incidence and mortality
registry studies to test existing or generate new etiologic and survival
hypotheses, and leveraging data on molecular heterogeneity, gender,
ethnicity, age, secular trends and geography (including cancer mapping
and other geospatial studies). These would include studies within
relatively small geographic areas, countries, and internationally, and
would utilize the opportunities afforded by new technologies including
record-linkage studies that supplement aggregate-level data with
individual-level information. The scope could also encompass development
of novel biostatistical methods to supplement standard descriptive
techniques, particularly in the emerging opportunities in tumor
heterogeneity and application of new technologies. A candidate for this
position need not have experience in all aspects of descriptive
epidemiology, but should be familiar with them and be experienced in
several.
The mission of DCEG is to conduct broad-based, high quality, high impact
research to uncover the causes of cancer and the means of its prevention. DCEG
maintains a national and international perspective, giving priority to
emergent issues identified through epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory
observations, as well as to public health concerns identified by the NCI,
Congress, regulatory agencies, and other appropriate bodies. The Division
develops research resources and strategic partnerships in epidemiology and
related disciplines across NCI, NIH, and the global research community. The
Division holds as its top priority the training and development of the next
generation of scientists in cancer epidemiology and related fields.
Applicants must have a doctorate in epidemiology, medicine,
biostatistics or equivalent doctoral level qualifications, relevant
experience after the doctorate in chronic disease epidemiology including
significant experience in descriptive epidemiology, and excellent
computational skills. A strong record of high quality publications
demonstrating an ability to collaborate effectively and to lead
independent research is required. The candidates will be evaluated on
evidence of specific accomplishments; creativity and novelty of
scientific vision; sound analytic knowledge and skills; collaborative
teamwork, especially across disciplines; ability to work on multiple
projects simultaneously and complete projects in a timely fashion;
productivity; evidence of effective and efficient leadership of new
projects; and skill at effective oral and written scientific
communication. Applicants at the tenure-eligible level will be leading
experts in descriptive epidemiology. Experience working in studies with
molecular and genetic components would be advantageous.
Salary is commensurate with research experience and accomplishments, and
a full Civil Service package of benefits (including retirement, health
insurance, life insurance, and a Thrift Savings Plan) is available.
Interested individuals should send a complete application to Tricia C.
Wilkerson at wilkersont@mail.nih.gov. The application should include:
cover letter; curriculum vitae; summary of experience and research
accomplishments; statement of research interests; copies of up to five
publications or reprints; and three letters of reference, including at
least one reference from a collaborator in epidemiology. Reference
letters must be sent directly from the referee to the email address
listed above. Any questions can also be directed to the e-mail address
above. Review of applications will begin on or about July 1, 2015, but
applications will be accepted until the position is filled. More
information about this job announcement and about research programs in
the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics are available at
http://dceg.cancer.gov/.
The NIH Intramural Research Program
http://irp.nih.gov/
http://irp.nih.gov/careers/tenured-and-tenure-track-scientific-careers
Link to Fellowships and Positions of Interest to fellows
https://www.training.nih.gov/
https://www.training.nih.gov/career_services/jobs
Link to NIH Jobs
http://www.jobs.nih.gov/
----------------------------------------------------
From: Murcia, Ellie (NIH/OD) [E] <murciae@OD.NIH.GOV>
Date: June 9, 2015 at 9:23:52 AM
Re-Sent From: Raymond Mejía <mejiar@helix.nih.gov>
Subject: NIH: Funding Opportunity 2016 - Transformative Research Awards
2016 Funding Opportunity
NIH Transformative Research Awards
Announcing a funding opportunity for the NIH Transformative Research
Awards:
-Seeking exceptionally innovative, high risk, original and/or
unconventional research with broad impact
-Individual or multi-PI applications permitted
-Clinical, basic, and/or behavioral/social science research projects
-Large budget applications welcome
The deadline for submitting Transformative Research Award applications
is October 9, 2015. Letters of Intent are due by September 9, 2015. See
the Funding Opportunity Announcement RFA-RM-15-005:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-15-005.html.
Additional information, including Frequently Asked Questions, is
available on the Transformative Research Award website: http://commonfund.nih.gov/TRA.
Send questions to Transformative_Awards@mail.nih.gov.
The Transformative Research Award is part of the NIH Common Fund's
High-Risk, High-Reward Program
(https://commonfund.nih.gov/highrisk/index), which provides unique
funding opportunities for exceptionally creative scientists who propose
highly innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical research.
The NIH Common Fund (http://commonfund.nih.gov/) (formerly the NIH
Roadmap) encourages collaboration and supports a series of exceptionally
high impact, trans-NIH programs. These programs are supported by the
Common Fund, and managed by the NIH Office of the Director in
partnership with the various NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - "The Nation's Medical Research
Agency" - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal
agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational
medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures
for both common and rare diseases. For more information about the NIH
and its programs, visit the NIH website (http://www.nih.gov/).
----------------------------------------------------
Subject: SMBnet Reminders
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