By Dr. Navideh Noori
In this issue of the News section, we highlight the updates on the 2020 Annual SMB Meeting, updates from SMB Subgroups, online seminar series/summer programs, call for papers, special issue, and honoring Robert McCredie May, The Lord May of Oxford. Read on below.
Annual SMB meeting postponed
The 2020 ECMTB meeting is postponed due to the COVID-19 situation. However, SMB will hold an online meeting (eSMB2020) on August 17-20th. The meeting will be drawn from the currently accepted abstracts for ECMBT2020. The registration is open now. Please follow @eSMB2020 on twitter for the most current information.
SMB Subgroups Update
- Mathematical Epidemiology Subgroup
The Mathematical Epidemiology Subgroup has submitted mini-symposium proposals for two sections entitled “Modeling COVID-19 to Inform Control Efforts” at the SMB annual meeting, focusing on the transmission, different ranges of disease symptoms and infection detection method. Stay tuned for more information!
Prof. David Earn, Prof. Marie Heffernan and Prof. Zhilan Feng, members of the Governing Committee, Mathematical Epidemiology Subgroup, signed in a Science Letter titled “Call for transparency of COVID-19 models”, urguing scientists modeling the COVID-19 pandemic to publish their code. To read the full letter, please check this link science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/368/6490/482.2.full.pdf.
- Mathematical Oncology Subgroup
The Mathematical Oncology Subgroup has organized two minisymposia for the joint annual meeting, which is hoping to transfer to eSMB to showcase the latest research in mathematical oncology.
This subgroup has implemented a Mathematical Oncology blog (blog.mathematical-oncology.org/, @mathoncoblog) to discuss publications, conferences, concepts, and ideas in mathematical oncology. The Mathematical Oncology subgroup also has a weekly newsletter that includes announcements, preprints, publications, books, job openings. It is sent out weekly to subgroup members and the greater mathematical oncology community (~700).
Online Seminar Series/Summer Programs
- The SMB has sponsored a weekly seminar series called “Mathematics and COVID-19” that is co-organized by the Centre for Disease Modelling (CDM) together with the Chinese Society for Mathematical Biology (CSMB). This seminar series promotes the application of mathematical modeling in fighting against COVID-19. Please visit cdm.yorku.ca/content/mathematics-and-covid-19 to find out about the content of seminars.
- The MIDAS Network hosts a monthly webinar series featuring modeling research by MIDAS members. The webinar is open to the public. Please visit the midasnetwork.us/covid-19/ website for the upcoming webinars.
- Center for Information Services and HPC, TU Dresden in Germany, has organized a “Virtual Seminar on Modeling Biocomplexity”. This weekly seminar series is devoted to Cancer Invasion and Progression. Please see this link for more information.
- American Institute of Mathematics is inviting graduate students and advanced undergraduates to apply for an online summer program on Dynamics, Data and the COVID 19 Pandemic. Please see this link for more detailed information.
Call for papers – Dynamic Publication Media in Mathematical Biology
The Mathematical Biosciences journal has announced a call for papers to a Virtual Special Issue on “Dynamic Publication Media in Mathematical Biology”. Submission portal will be open until December 31st, 2020. To find more details about this opportunity, please see the following link: www.journals.elsevier.com/mathematical-biosciences/call-for-papers/dynamic-publication-media-in-mathematical-biology
Royal Society Publishing Special Issue
- Royal Society Publishing has recently published a special issue of Philosophical Transactions A entitled Uncertainty quantification in cardiac and cardiovascular modelling and simulation compiled and edited by Gary R Mirams, Steven A Niederer and Richard H Clayton. The articles can be accessed at bit.ly/TransA2173. The issue is currently FREELY available online!
- Royal Society Publishing is also looking for new theme issues. If you are interested in submitting, please visit the website: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsta/guest-editors or contact the Editorial Office for more information – philtransa@royalsociety.org.
- Collaboration in the COVID era
We all know that times are strange right now, and the lives of scientists very different from normal. For those who are missing conference travel, and the opportunity to discuss your work and build collaborations with other research groups, we would like to suggest a replacement project: why not edit a theme issue of Philosophical Transactions A?
Each issue is carefully planned out, so is more like a book than a standard collection of related papers. The broad scope means that you are not restricted in terms of subject area, and you can be inventive with different article types. As Guest Editor, you will have the opportunity to build your network and gain editorial experience, with a high-profile Editorial Board and experienced staff to help you every step of the way.
Read about the benefits of Guest Editing an issue and download our flyer. Then, if interested, feel free to contact the Commissioning Editor, Alice Power, with your ideas.
Honoring Robert McCredie May, The Lord May of Oxford, OM, AC, Kt, HonFREng, FRS
In this issue of the Newsletter, we honor Prof. Robert May, who sadly passed away in April 2020. Robert May was a theoretical ecologist, promoter of science and political influencer. He was an intelligent giant, and massively influential in multiple fields of ecology, mathematical biology, epidemiology and science policy. His record of accomplishment in these fields are unparalleled.
Here is a nice piece by Prof. Jeremy Fox about Bob May on Dynamic Ecology.