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Mathematical Biology Newsletter
Volume 15 #3 - September 2002
Edited by: Elizabeth H. Scholl
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Table of Contents
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Mathematical Biology Newsletter
Volume 15 #3 - September 2002
Edited by: Elizabeth H. Scholl
|
Table of Contents
Lou Gross
Gerda de Vries
Torcom Corbajian
September 2002
Dear members of the Society for Mathematical Biology,
In preparation for our members open meeting this year at Knoxville I went through some contributions the SMB makes to the world of mathematical biology and was impressed by the breadth of impact. I would like to share some of these contributions with you.
The annual meeting is an opportunity for members to share new research results and to interact. Thanks to Lou Gross and colleagues for organizing an excellent meeting at Tennessee this last July. Next year's meeting will be held in Dundee Scotland, August 6-9, 2003.
The Society owns the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. This is a world class journal devoted to the interface of mathematics and biology. Both the journal impact factor and number of electronic downloads per year have grown substantially in the last few years.
Training the next generation of mathematical biologists is crucial for our field. The Society is active in a wide variety of educational initiatives to initiate and promote education in mathematical biology. There are funds available for students (both graduate and undergraduate) to attend the annual SMB meeting and the Society supports students in travel to other math biology meetings. There is also a mentoring program to help students interact with senior faculty at the annual meeting.
Through world outreach support, the Society helps foster mathematical biology in developing countries. Much of this money goes to support meetings and help with travel when other funds are not available.
The activities in mathematical biology and of the Society are communicated to members through this newsletter. The newsletter is for the whole Society, and you are encouraged to contribute.
The activities listed here happen through the dedicated service of volunteers including committee chairs (see http://www.smb.org/officers.shtml) and the funds for the outreach are primarily generated by the Bulletin. Feel free to contact me, committee chairs or board members with ideas or requests. Thank you to those who volunteer their effort to make things happen in this Society!
Best wishes for a good fall season
Mark Lewis
Report on the Knoxville Conference and Meeting of SMB
submitted by Lou Gross
Over 170 researchers gathered in Knoxville from July 12-16, 2002 for a stimulating conference dealing with
many aspects of mathematical biology. Along with numerous contributed talks and posters, the conference
included several special mini-symposia organized on particular themes. These included: Cancer Modeling
(organized by Robert Gatenby), Computational Biofluid Dynamics (organized by Eunok Jung), Education
(organized by John Jungck), Evolutionary Theory (organized by Warren Ewens and Sergey Gavrilets),
Infectious Diseases and the Evolution of Drug Resistance (organized by Sally Blower), and Structured
Population and Community Modeling and Ecotoxicology in Honor of Tom Hallam's 65th Birthday (organized
by Linda Allen).
Six plenary speakers provided surveys of recent research in a variety of areas of current emphasis in
mathematical biology. The plenary speakers and their talk titles were:
The speaker at the closing banquet was Avner Friedman, who provided an overview of the objectives
planned for the new NSF-funded Mathematical Biosciences Institute. Together there were over 100 talks
presented in addition to 20 posters. Abstracts of all presentations are available on line through the web site
at
http://www.tiem.utk.edu/smb02/
The Conference received generous financial support from the National Science Foundation and
GlaxoSmithKline. These funds allowed the Conference to provide partial financial assistance for attendance to
over 40 students and post-doctoral researchers. SMB provided funds to support additional students and non-
US attendees through the Landahl and Busenberg Endowment Funds and through World Outreach
Committee funds. CPS Innovations sponsored a lunch on career opportunities oriented towards younger
researchers that featured talks by Frank Tobin (GlaxoSmithKline), Maurizio Conti (CPS Innovations) and
Gene Bruce (NSF). For the first time, a pre-conference short course was held, An Introduction to the
Mathematics of Biological Complexity, funded by the National Institutes of Health. This short course, with
presentations and computer-based workshop sessions led by Holly Gaff, Louis Gross, Suzanne Lenhart and
Jason Wolf, was oriented towards biologists without strong quantitative training.
In addition to a performance of Scottish and Appalachian fiddle music presented by Betsy Hooper (who was
joined by a few attendees, notably Steve Ellner on accordion), many Conference attendees took advantage
of the opportunity to visit the Museum of Appalachia, or hear a concert by old-time musician Howard
Amstrong in conjunction with the premier of a documentary that was broadcast on PBS ("Sweet Old Song")
the following week. As a special treat, the University of Tennessee Departments of Mathematics and Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology hosted a reception in honor of Tom Hallam's 65th birthday, which was attended by
many of Tom's colleagues, friends and students.
The organizing committee for the conference was Louis Gross (Chair), Sergey Gavrilets, Eunok Jung,
Suzanne Lenhart, Vladimir Protopopescu and Ed Uberbacher. The committee thanks all who attended for
their contribution and appreciates the superb support provided by the University of Tennessee Conference
Center, particularly the Conference Coordinator, Barry Neal.
Mentoring Program at Our Annual Meeting
in Knoxville, Tennessee
submitted by Gerda de Vries
During the last three annual meetings, the SMB has run a mentoring program to benefit junior
scientists. Junior scientists interested in the mentoring program sign up with the program
coordinator, and are matched with a senior scientist attending the meeting. Matches can be
made based on research interests or by special request. The goal of the mentoring program is to
optimize the educational and professional experience of mentees attending the conference, and
to assist the mentees' socialization into the field of mathematical biology.
This year, 14 junior scientists applied to be mentored, and a match was found for all applicants.
Thanks to all the mentors for enthusiastically volunteering their time!
Both mentees and mentors found participation in the mentoring program to be a valuable
experience. Many of the mentees commented that they very much appreciated the time spent
with the mentor discussing their research and career options, and receiving feedback on their
poster or oral presentation from their mentor.
We are planning to offer the program again at our annual meeting next year. Watch for
announcements in future issues of this newsletter, in the electronic SMB Digest, and on the
meeting web pages. For details on the objectives of the program and the process used to
administer the program, visit the program web page at
http://www.smb.org/mentoring.shtml.
Comments and suggestions are always welcomed (email devries@math.ualberta.ca).
A Report on the 5th Conference of ESMTB on
Mathematical Modeling & Computing in Biology and Medicine.
submitted by Lisa Sattenspiel, Carl Panetta and Ramit Mehr
The 5th conference of the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology, on
Mathematical Modeling & Computing in Biology and Medicine, was held in Milano, Italy from July
2-6, 2002. Events took place at both the University of Milano and the Politecnico. The conference
brought together a variety of researchers from all over the world, including many graduate
students and other young researchers.
The conference opened with an interesting lecture by Mimmo Iannelli on the life of Vito Volterra
and his contributions to mathematical biology. There were also invited lectures, minisymposia,
and contributed talks throughout the conference on a variety of topics including: Individual Based
Models, Cell Signaling and Cellular Organization, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology,
Infectious Diseases, Immunology, Evolution, Ecology, Stochastic Modeling, Cardiovascular
Systems, Space and Patterns, Computational Neurosciences, and Tumor Growth and Therapy.
At the end of the meeting the conference organizers announced that a proceedings volume will
be compiled and published as a volume of the series MIRIAM (the Milan Research Centre for
Industrial and Applied Mathematics).
At the social dinner, where the participants enjoyed a wonderful Italian meal, the ESMTB had
several announcements of interest to members of the SMB. First, the society announced that it
has adopted the Journal of Mathematical Biology as its official journal. Second, the society
announced that it is considering reciprocal membership agreements with both the Society for
Mathematical Biology and the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology. The latter is an issue
that is also under discussion by the SMB. The members of the SMB board welcome your input.
More on the meeting can be found at the website:
http://ecmtb.mat.unimi.it/
SMB Financial Report
submitted by Torcom Corbajian
SMB finances continue to be in good standing with revenues exceeding expenses.
Membership dues have continued at the same rate for the past several years. The
Society has members in more than 50 countries worldwide. If you would like to sponsor
a new member from a developing country, at a discounted rate, please contact the
treasurer (torcom@smb.org) for details.
A New Institute in Mathematical Biosciences
Ohio State University
The National Science Foundation, Division of Mathematical Sciences, has recently
announced an award of $10 million to the new Mathematical Biosciences Institute, which
is located at the Ohio State University. For more details visit our web site:
http://mbi.osu.edu
The program for September 2002 - August 2003 is mathematical biosciences. Below is a
list of tutorials and workshops:
Tutorial on Neural Dynamics (September 2nd - 13th)
Workshop 1 - Neuronal Dynamics (October 7th - 18th)
Organizers: Bard Ermentrout, David Terman
Workshop 2 - System Level Modeling (November 18th - 22nd)
Organizers: John Rinzel, Barry Horwitz
Tutorial on Neural Coding (January 9th - 14th)
Workshop 3 - Neural Coding (February 10th - 14th)
Organizers: John Miller, Emery Brown
Period of Concentration (February 17th – 28th):
Functional Analysis of Nervous Systems: from tasks to implementation
Tutorial on Olfaction, Auditory and Sensory-Motor System (One week in March)
Workshop 4 - Olfaction (April 3rd - 5th)
Organizers: Bard Ermentrout, Alan Gelperin
Workshop 5 - Auditory (May 5 - 9)
Organizers: Catherine Carr, John Rinzel
Workshop 6 - Sensory-Motor System (June 9-13)
Organizers: David Terman, Charles Wilson
First Call for Papers
IPCAT2003
Fifth International Workshop on
Information Processing in Cells and Tissues
September 8 - 11, 2003
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)
Lausanne, Switzerland
http://lslwww.epfl.ch/ipcat2003
Description:
The aim of the series of IPCAT workshops is to bring together a multidisciplinary core of
scientists who are working in the general area of modeling information processing in
biosystems. A general theme is the nature of biological information and the ways in
which it is processed in biological and artificial cells and tissues.
The key motivation is to provide a common ground for dialogue and interaction, without
emphasis on any particular research constituency, or way of modeling, or single issue in
the relationship between biology and information.
IPCAT2003 will highlight recent research and seek to further the dialogue, exchange of
ideas, and development of interactive viewpoints between biologists, physicists,
computer scientists, technologists and mathematicians that have been progressively
expanded throughout the IPCAT series of meetings (since 1995). The workshop will
feature sessions of selected original research papers grouped around emergent themes
of common interest, and a number of discussions and talks focusing on wider themes.
IPCAT2003 will give particular attention to morphogenetic and ontogenetic processes
and systems.
IPCAT2003 encourages experimental, computational, and theoretical articles that link
biology and the information processing sciences and that encompass the fundamental
nature of biological information processing, the computational modeling of complex
biological systems, evolutionary models of computation, the application of biological
principles to the design of novel computing systems, and the use of biomolecular
materials to synthesize artificial systems that capture essential principles of natural
biological information processing.
Important Dates:
For up-to-date information, consult the IPCAT2003 web-site: ttp://lslwww.epfl.ch/ipcat2003
Guidelines for SMB Financial Support for Travel to Meetings
Other than the SMB Annual Meeting (revised July 2002)
submitted by Lisa Sattenspiel
Guidelines for support of SMB members for travel to meetings other than our annual
meeting were revised at the last board meeting (July 2002). The following guidelines
have been approved by the board of directors:
Note: If applying after August 2003, please check website or newsletter for any
changes in submission details.
A Report of the Co-Chairs of the Gordon Research Conference
in Theoretical Biology and Biomathematics
submitted by Claudia Neuhauser, University of Minnesota, co-chair and
Alexander Mogilner, UC Davis, co-chair
The 2002 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in Theoretical Biology and
Biomathematics took place in Tilton, New Hampshire, from June 9 to June 14, 2002. The
overarching theme was complex networks; the talks ranged from genes to ecosystems.
About 100 participants gathered in the informal setting of a boarding school in Tilton to
discuss current research topics in phylogenetic trees, visual cortex, Parkinson disease,
chemotaxis, morphogenesis, global environmental changes, gene regulation networks,
and transcriptional regulation. The conference concluded with a discussion of
computational biology in a changing scientific culture. The speakers were a mix of junior
and senior scientists, which is typical of Gordon Research Conferences. The program
and abstracts are still available on the web (
http://math.ucdavis.edu/mogilner).
Traditionally, the conference has strived to span a large range of topics to encourage
theoretical and mathematical biologists with diverse research interests to participate.
The breadth of this conference is particularly exciting for young scientists who make up a
large fraction of the participants. Since senior scientists make an effort to introduce
junior scientists to established researchers, this conference also provides an unusually
nurturing environment for graduate students and postdocs.
This year, an impromptu afternoon session on "Women in Mathematical and Theoretical
Biology" was held to address the persistent problem of a lack of women at all academic
levels in mathematical research, including higher level administrative positions
(department heads and deans). Though the situation has been improving, there are still
few women faculty employed in mathematics departments at major research
universities. This lack of role models continues to discourage students from pursuing a
career in theoretical or mathematical biology. Many young scientists also question the
feasibility of juggling a career and family; this problem needs to be addressed much
more aggressively by both university administrations and funding agencies.
The form of Gordon Research Conferences is very conducive to informal discussions
among participants. GRC does not allow any recordings of the talks or dissemination of
results through conference proceedings or other reports, which encourages speakers to
discuss unpublished research and provocative hypotheses. Talks are held in the
mornings and after dinner; afternoons are free and used for informal sessions and one-
on-one discussions. A large number of posters were presented that resulted in lively
discussion among the participants. In addition, canoeing trips, hiking, and excellent food
facilitated scientific exchange.
Reflecting recent trends, many sessions and talks were devoted to explosively growing
areas of bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics (and other –tics and –mics), such as
phylogenetic trees, gene and transcriptional regulation networks, and computational
biology in general. These sessions highlighted the importance of 'discrete mathematics'
(as compared to traditional methods of analysis and differential equations).
The participants received a clear message that mathematical biologists must 'speak
biology' to contribute to biology: models and data from empirical studies must be
combined. Mathematical models that are only loosely motivated by real systems may
very well contribute to mathematics but may have little impact in biology. The tight link
between empirical and theoretical studies was nicely demonstrated in the neuroscience
talks where theoretical neuroscience talks were complemented by experimental talks,
and in the talks on ecological topics where global ecological models were directly linked
to data.
Very thought provoking was the last session. Dr. Charles DeLisi, one of the pioneers of
the human genome project, talked about perspectives and challenges in genomics and
proteomics. Dr. Marvin Cassman, former head of NIGMS and NIH, now director of the
QB3, the Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research, spoke about 'collectivization'
and 'industrialization' of modern biology driven by a shift in funding philosophy among
federal funding agencies. He compared the changes in biology to the changes occurring
in human societies when the switch from hunters to gatherers occurred. This paradigm
resulted in a lively discussion about the value of 'big science' where individuals'
contributions are frequently obscured by the compartmentalization of large projects
versus the value of highly individualistic science where the entire project is carried out by
few individuals.
A number of talented young researchers presented talks that promise a bright and
exciting future for mathematical biology. To name but a few, Dr. Ed Munro, who just
finished his Ph.D. with Dr. G. Odell, dazzled us with computer movies. Drs.
Oudenaarden and Levchenkos' talks pointed us to where the future of mathematical
biology lies: experiments and theory combined in the same project.
The participants gave the conference high marks and unanimously voted for
continuation of this conference series. The 2004 meeting will be chaired by Dr. Tim
Elston (University of North Carolina) and Dr. Ray Mejia (NIH); Dr. Paul Bressloff
(University of Utah) will be vice chair in 2004 and chair in 2006. Input on the content of
these meetings is always solicited from the entire mathematical biology community. One
of the most important issues when organizing this conference remains the balance
between a conference that is too narrowly focused and thus only attracts a limited
number of people, and a conference that is so broad as to lose attractiveness.. In
addition, the conference needs to be well balanced with respect to theoretical and
empirical talks. This year's conference saw a large number of new faces with very
diverse backgrounds, from exclusively experimental to hard core mathematics, but a
smaller number of 'founding fathers and mothers' compared to previous years.
This conference is held every other year, typically at the same time of the year and in the
same place. Come and join us in 2004!
NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships in Interdisciplinary Informatics
NSF has announced the following opportunity for postdoctoral training that connects the
Mathematical and Physical Sciences with the Biological Sciences. This program is
particularly seeking candidates with training in one of the Mathematical and Physical
Sciences who are interested in further training to work on problems in the biological
sciences.
"The Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and the Directorate for
Biological Sciences (BIO) have established a formal partnership for the support of
research that crosses the disciplinary boundaries between the mathematical and
physical sciences and biology. As part of this partnership, MPS and BIO are announcing
joint sponsorship and expansion of the Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biological
Informatics, now renamed Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Interdisciplinary
Informatics. These fellowships provide opportunities for interdisciplinary research and
educational activities in biology and informatics to a wide range of recent doctoral
recipients. The program is being expanded to include chemists, physicists,
mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and others who seek to conduct
research on biological questions using informatics tools and methods."
The full text of the announcement, including application details, can be found at the URL:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1998/nsf98162/nsf98162.htm
Questions about the program can
be addressed to either Carter Kimsey (ckimsey@nsf.gov or 703-292-8470) or Denise
Caldwell (dcaldwel@nsf.gov or 703-292-7371).
EUROCAST 2003
Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Systems Theory
February 24-28, 2003 - Casa de Colón, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Canary Islands, Spain
The conference consists of the following Workshops, having a common emphasis in the
use of formal methods in modelling and simulation.
Biocomplexity: Multi-Scale Modelling of Avian Limb Development
Postdoctoral Position Available
Notre Dame University
We seek a postdoctoral fellow to participate in a five-year NSF funded collaboration
between research groups at University of Notre Dame, Indiana University, Bloomington,
the University of Missouri, New York Medical College and Emory University. This project
develops a multi-scale (genetic, cellular and supercellular) understanding of complex
organ formation, focusing on avian limb development as a model for general
organogenesis. The project has experimental, computational, and theoretical
components. The theoretical/computational goal is to develop an integrated simulation of
limb development based on our existing reaction-diffusion equation framework and
simulations of cell sorting and chemotaxis in cell aggregates. Our objective is to
integrate additional cell level processes (formation of extracellular matrix, haptotaxis,
and cell anisotropy) and subcellular descriptions (gene expression and regulation,
modelling of cell signaling, cytoskeletal properties) to produce a flexible net-distributed
package that can be customized to model other embryonic organogenesis. Experimental
goals include quantitative studies of cell adhesion, molecule distributions, measurements
of cell mechanical properties (surface tensions and viscosities), chemotactic secretion
and response, tracking of gene expression and production of cell adhesion molecules
and ECM production during limb formation.
The applicant should have a strong background in modelling and analysis of pattern
formation in biology including knowledge of properties of reaction diffusion-systems and
should have extensive experience in computer simulation of complex systems. Ph.D.'s
in Mathematical or Theoretical Biology, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science or
Physics will all be considered.
The starting date for this position will be November 1, 2002. Initial appointments will be
for one year, renewable for up to three years.
Contact:
Please send inquiries or applications to: Prof. Mark Alber, E-mail malber@nd.edu
Tel.: (574) 631-8371
Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 2003
January 3-7, 2003 - Kaua'i Marriott, Kaua'I
Registration is now open for PSB 2003. Please register and make travel arrangements
early if you are planning to attend PSB. Travel and lodging in Hawaii in January is
always booked well in advance.
For more information or to register on-line, please visit our web site:
http://psb.stanford.edu
Please send comments and corrections for this edition of the SMB Newsletter
to: editor@smb.org
Paper submission: February 28, 2003
Notification of acceptance : May 28, 2003
Camera-ready copy: July 11, 2003
Application materials to be submitted:
Send application materials to:
Lisa Sattenspiel
Department of Anthropology
107 Swallow Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211 USA
Email: SattenspielL@missouri.edu
Fax: (573) 884-5450
More information at
http://www.ciber.ulpgc.es/iuctc/spain/eurocast/