SMB Subgroups

The Cardiovascular Modelling Subgroup is a dedicated forum for SMB members who study the disease and physiology of the heart and circulation. The complex cardiovascular system necessitates modelling at a variety of spatial and temporal scales with a wide range of mathematical approaches. The subgroup brings together researchers from across this broad area to share expertise, foster collaborations and promote the growth of this increasingly important field.

Chairs: Michael Watson, michael.watson1@unsw.edu.au; Vijay Rajagopal, vijay.rajagopal@unimelb.edu.au

The Subgroup on Cell and Developmental Biology brings together interdisciplinary scientists with shared and complementary interests in the mathematics of multiscale cellular dynamics. Researchers in this subgroup work on questions related to how cells make decisions in development, how gene regulatory networks influence cell fate, how internal filaments affect cell shape and intracellular dynamics, how cells interact with external signals, and how tissues and patterns form robustly during development, among many other questions. Cell and developmental biology has long proven a fertile ground for mathematical modeling and, with recent experimental advances, it is becoming an increasingly quantitative discipline. We are now able to constrain and quantify mathematical models of cellular dynamics, growing the potential for models to be used in a predictive way. The objective of this subgroup is to accelerate these efforts, encourage the interactions of researchers across disciplines and biological scales, and support the use of mathematical modeling as part of the ‘toolkit’ of cell and developmental biology.

Chair: Alexandria Volkening, Purdue University, avolkening@purdue.edu
Secretary: Alessandra Bonfanti, Politecnico di Milano bonfantiale.ab@gmail.com
Committee Members:
Maria Abou Chakra, University of Toronto maria.abouchakra@utoronto.ca
Carina Dunlop, University of Surrey c.dunlop@surrey.ac.uk
Tian Hong, University of Tennessee, Knoxville hongtian@utk.edu


Twitter: @SMBdevBio
Website: https://smb-celldevbio.github.io/

2018 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2019 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2020 Annual Meeting Minisymposia

The Education Subgroup of SMB is comprised of members who desire to improve the teaching and mentoring of future scientists, and in particular undergraduate and graduate mathematical and computational biology researchers. As new research frontiers emerge, our members seek to understand the best practices to help future researchers of biological questions be successful in this space. Content areas include, but are not limited to the teaching and learning of modeling, computing, data science, and quantitative reasoning. Challenge spaces include, but are not limited to designing learning experiences across disciplines, defining and assessing outcomes for new interdisciplinary and technological spaces, integrating data with mathematical modeling, educational outreach initiatives, and providing an inclusive and diverse environment for learning and for the profession.

Chair: Stacey Smith?, stacey.smith@uottawa.ca

Secretary: Shelby Scott
Past Chair: Holly Gaff
Diversity Officer: RB McGee

Twitter: @Edu4SMB

2017 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2018 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2019 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2020 Annual Meeting Minisymposia

The Immunobiology and Infection Subgroup brings together researchers who are interested in the modeling and analysis of immune processes in human disease and of host-pathogen interactions. Our members study various topics, including within-host infectious disease dynamics, host immune responses, causes and effects of inflammation, disease progression and outcome, integration of experimental and clinical data into models, and model-driven experimental design.

Chair: Morgan Craig, morgan.craig@umontreal.ca
Past Chair: Stanca Ciupe
Secretary/Treasurer: Daniel Reeves
Advisory Committee Members: Amber Smith, Maria Rodriguez Martinez

Twitter: @smb_imin

2017 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2018 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2019 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2020 Annual Meeting Minisymposia

The Mathematical Epidemiology Subgroup brings together scholars interested in dynamical modeling and statistical analysis of the spread of infectious diseases. Topics of interest to the group include: deterministic and stochastic modeling of population dynamics of infectious diseases; statistical analysis of population-level infectious disease data; describing and modeling human behavioral decisions in relation to infectious diseases; control and eradication strategies for endemic infections; prevention and response strategies for emerging and re-emerging infections; effects of antimicrobial resistance; policy implications.

Chair: Lauren Childs lchilds@vt.edu
Co-chair/Secretary: Michael Robert
Advisory Committee: Jane Heffernan, Zhilan Feng, David Earn

Twitter: #SMBMathEpi

2017 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2018 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2019 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2020 Annual Meeting Minisymposia

The Mathematical Neuroscience Subgroup provides a forum for the use and development of advanced mathematical techniques in the modelling and analysis in all areas of neuroscience – from cells to networks. The frameworks of Dynamical Systems, Network Science, Scientific Computation, Information theory, and Stochastic processes are just a few areas that we are using to advance knowledge on synaptic plasticity, neural rhythm generation, memory and learning, decision making, and natural computation, hand-in-hand with colleagues from experimental and clinical neuroscience.

Chair: Cheng Ly, cly@vcu.edu

ViceChair: Pamela Pyzza, pyzza1@kenyon.edu

Advisory member: Chitaranjan Mahapatra, c.mahapatra97@gmail.com

Email: mathneurocollective@gmail.com
Twitter: @MathNeuro_

2018 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2019 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2020 Annual Meeting Minisymposia

The Mathematical Oncology Subgroup is focused on integrating and applying mathematical and computational models to better understand and predict cancer initiation, progression, and treatment.

Chairs: Renee Brady, Jason George and Harsh Jain

Twitter: @mathonco
Website: http://mathematical-oncology.org

2018 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2019 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2020 Annual Meeting Minisymposia

The Methods for Biological Modeling Subgroup brings together those interested in the development of novel application of methods (e.g., numerical, analytical/theoretical, agent-based modeling, statistical, parameter estimation, identifiability, and machine learning) towards modeling biological systems. In applying standard methodologies, mathematical modelers encounter many challenges with simulating and analyzing biological systems, such as high dimensionality, computational complexity, observation or process error, model bias, and intra- and inter-individual heterogeneity. The objective of the Subgroup is to support and disseminate new advances in tackling these challenges to the Mathematical Biology community.

Chairs: Kevin Flores, kbflores@ncsu.edu; Erica Rutter, erutter2@ucmerced.edu; John Nardini, nardinij@tcnj.edu

Twitter: @SMBmfbm
Website: https://methods-biomodeling.org/

2020 Annual Meeting Minisymposia

The Population Dynamics, Ecology and Evolution Subgroup aims to foster a discussion on theoretical, mathematical and empirical approaches to core topics in population dynamics, ecology and evolution.

Chair: Christina Cobbold, Christina.Cobbold@glasgow.ac.uk
Secretary: James Watmough, watmough@unb.ca

Twitter: @smbpdee
Google Group: smbpdee
Website: https://smbpdee.github.io/

2019 Annual Meeting Minisymposia
2020 Annual Meeting Minisymposia