---------------------------------------------------- Subject: SMB Digest v08i03 SMB Digest January 22, 2008 Volume 08 Issue 3 ISSN 1086-6566 Editor: Ray Mejía ray(at)smb(dot)org Note: Information about the Society for Mathematical Biology, including an application for membership, may be found in the SMB Home Page, http://www.smb.org/ . Access the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, the official journal of SMB, at http://www.springer.com/11538 . Inquiries about membership or BMB fulfillment should be sent to membership(at)smb(dot)org . Issue's Topics: Society for Mathematical Biology 2008 Membership SMB WOC Report Summer Research Program for Undergraduates, NCI ICBP UBC/PIMS Workshop on Disease Dynamics, April 3-5, UBC Workshop on Mathematical Modeling of Human Metabolism ... 2nd CfP: CNS*2008 6th International Bird Flu Summit, March 27-28, 2008, Bali Now Online: Inverse Problems, Photo- and Thermo-Acoustic Imaging TOC: Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine, Vol 9 Iss 1 PhD Studentships (4): Systems Biology, University of Nottingham Postdoc Opening: Interaubio Project, University of Lyon 1 SMBnet Reminders ---------------------------------------------------- From: Holly D Gaff Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:08:05 -0500 Subject: Society for Mathematical Biology 2008 Membership I am pleased to invite you to join/renew membership in the Society of Mathematical Biology membership using our new on-line membership process. As mentioned in the write-up in the January Newsletter, we are working with the Botanical Society of America on this. Here is how it works. Please go to: https://payments.botany.org/joinsmb/index.php To renew: simply fill in your email in the "Forgot your login details" section and push "Send reset details". If we have your email in the database, this will send you an automatically generated email with a link to login. You will be prompted to change your password and led through the renewal process. If your email is not in the database, please follow the join for the first time option. To join for the very first time: Select this button, continue, and you will be led through the process. You can pay on-line using a credit card, or you can opt to send a check by mail. We encourage you to use the on-line process either way as it will allow you to fill in your address accurately, specify interests and other options, and will expedite the membership process. Please let me know if you have any troubles. One quick troubleshooting trick to try is to clear your internet browser cache if you get an error and then try again. ---------------------------------------------------- From: Abdul-Aziz Yakubu Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:12:40 -0500 Subject: SMB WOC Report The newly appointed World Outreach Committee (WOC) of SMB consisting of Abdul-Aziz Yakubu (Chair), Daniel Bentil, Abba Gumel, Yi Jiang and Jorge Velasco-Hernandez has already started exploring research and educational activities in developing/emerging communities. For the next two years, WOC will focus more on promoting world mathematical biology. On January 4, 2008 SMB President, Avner Friedman, and Abdul-Aziz Yakubu witnessed the formation of the African Society of Biomathematics (ASB) at the January 3-8, 2008 International Conference on Biomathematics at Marrakech-Morocco. The steering committee of the newly formed ASB consists of Joseph Mugisha (Uganda), Hassan Hbid (Morocco), Ogana Wandera (Kenya), Edward Lungu (Botswana) and Henry Laurie (South Africa). The assembled group also approved a Liaison Committee consisting of Abba Gummel (Canada), Odo Diekmann (The Netherlands), Pierre Auger (France), Abdul-Aziz Yakubu, Avner Friedman and Carlos Castillo-Chavez (USA). The Steering Committee is charged with developing the structure of ASB (officers, membership, etc) and the Liaison Committee is to help ASB with connections and support from the international community, including other societies of mathematical biology. SMB President and WOC are also planning on a China-SMB conference in 2009. Avner Friedman will be visiting China in the spring of 2008 to finalize discussions for the international meeting. Also, WOC is exploring locations in Mexico and Africa for joint meetings/workshops in 2010 and 2011. ---------------------------------------------------- From: Lourdes Estrada Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:53:49 -0600 Subject: Summer Research Program for Undergraduates, NCI ICBP The National Cancer Institute's Integrative Cancer Biology Program (NCI ICBP) 2008 Summer Cancer Research Fellowships for Undergraduates Program Description: The Summer Cancer Research Fellowship program provides a unique opportunity for eligible sophomore or junior college students to engage in innovative, integrative biology approaches to cancer research through the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Integrative Cancer Biology Program (ICBP). The ICBP, composed of nine multi-disciplinary Centers across the United States, focuses on the analysis of cancer as a complex biological system. Researchers within each ICBP Center utilize the integration of experimental biology with mathematical and computational modeling to gain new insights into the biology and possible management of cancer. Selected student participants will be paired with an ICBP faculty-mentor from a participating Center based on the students' indicated research interests. Through mentored research projects and/or laboratory work, faculty lectures, seminars, discussions and other activities, the students will gain an understanding and appreciation of major questions currently under investigation as well as the novel approaches being used within the ICBP Centers. For more information including project descriptions, and the online application, visit: http://icbp.nci.nih.gov/summer_program/ Online applications may be submitted beginning Monday, January 14, 2008. The online application is the only format accepted by the NCI - ICBP Summer Cancer Research Fellowship Program. The deadline for Student applications and completed Faculty recommendations is: Monday, February 18, 2008. ---------------------------------------------------- From: Daniel Coombs Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:35:41 -0800 (PST) Subject: UBC/PIMS Workshop on Disease Dynamics, April 3-5, UBC A workshop on mathematical modeling of infectious diseases will be held at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada from April 3-5, 2008. Further details are available from http://www.pims.math.ca/science/2008/08disdyn/index.html Registration is now available via this web site. Poster presentations are also invited and some travel funding will be available for students and postdocs (please apply for funding by February 28th). This event is sponsored by the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) and is part of the activities of the PIMS collaborative research group on Mathematical Modelling and Computation in Biology. ---------------------------------------------------- From: Kevin Hall Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:50:01 -0500 Subject: Workshop on Mathematical Modeling of Human Metabolism ... Workshop on Mathematical Modeling of Human Metabolism and Body Weight Regulation Bethesda MD, September 27-28, 2008. http://www.mitacs.ca/conferences/HMBW/ An important new field is emerging that uses mathematical and computational methods to address key questions about human metabolism and body weight regulation. This two day workshop will feature several of the world's experts in obesity and metabolism research along with leading investigators in the fields of mathematical and computational modeling. The workshop will facilitate communication and collaboration between these researchers and introduce new investigators to this exciting area of study. An authoritative background on the physiology of human metabolism and body weight regulation will be provided and the workshop will introduce important research questions that can benefit from mathematical and computational approaches. Recent progress in modeling human metabolism and body weight regulation will be highlighted and promising new areas of investigation will be identified. Who Should Attend? - Applied Mathematicians, Biophysicists and Computational Biologists - Researchers investigating Human Metabolism, Nutrition, and Body Weight Regulation - Clinicians, Dietitians and other Health Professionals Workshop Goals - Introduce new investigators to the field and facilitate research collaborations - Pose important new research questions - Brief Contributed Presentations will allow attendees to share their research interests and generate discussion - Provide information on Funding Opportunities Registration Information On-line registration available soon. Travel assistance may be available to help support student travel expenses. Organizing Committee Kevin Hall, NIDDK; Carson Chow, NIDDK; Kong Chen, NIDDK; Col. Karl Friedl, US Army ---------------------------------------------------- From: Sharon Crook Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:04:24 -0700 Subject: 2nd CfP: CNS*2008 SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS, CNS*2008 SUBMISSION DEADLINE: February 8, 2008 SUBMISSION OPEN: January 21, 2008 Seventeenth Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting CNS*2008 July 19 - July 24, 2008 Portland, Oregon http://www.cnsorg.org CNS*2008 will be held in Portland, Oregon July 19-24, 2008. A welcome reception will be held on the evening of July 19th and the scientific program will start Sunday, July 20th in the morning. The main meeting will take place July 20-22 in downtown Portland at The Benson Hotel, currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a Portland landmark. The main meeting will be followed by two days of workshops, July 23-24 at the OHSU Center for Health and Healing, at the foot of the Aerial tram to OHSU. The meeting banquet will be held July 21. Submissions can include experimental, model-based, as well as more abstract theoretical approaches to understanding neurobiological computation. We especially encourage research that mixes experimental and theoretical studies. We also accept papers that describe new technical approaches to theoretical and experimental issues in computational neuroscience or relevant software packages. This year we are having a Special Session on Systems Biology and Molecular Level Modeling in Neuroscience. INVITED SPEAKERS: Upinder Bhalla (National Centre for Biological Sciences, India) Kim (Avrama) Blackwell (George Mason University) John Rinzel (New York University) Thomas Soderling (Oregon Health Sciences University) CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS: We are accepting proposals for workshops (Half-day to two days in length) (http://www.cnsorg.org/cns_meeting_workshops.htm). If you want to propose a workshop, please contact the workshop coordinator, Dieter Jaeger, at workshops@cnsorg.org. PAPER SUBMISSION: Submissions to the meeting will take the form of a formatted abstract (to be published). Authors wanting an oral presentation are required to also submit a 1-3-page summary (for the CNS reviewers only) describing the nature, scope and main results of the work in more detail. The summaries will be reviewed to construct the oral program. Details regarding formatting of submissions will be posted at http://www.cnsorg.org. All submissions will be acknowledged by e-mail. THE REVIEW PROCESS: Submissions will be judged and accepted for the meeting based on clarity, substance and appropriateness for the meeting. It is particularly important that the biological relevance of the research be made clear. CNS strongly believes in the open exchange of ideas and rejections are usually based on absence of biological relevance (e.g., pure machine learning). We will notify authors of meeting acceptance by the first week of April. Submissions to be considered for oral presentation will be reviewed by two independent referees and results of the review process will be used to construct the oral program. In addition to perceived quality and significance, the novelty of the research and the diversity and coherence of the overall program will be considerations for selection as an oral presentation. We particularly encourage women and underrepresented minorities to apply for an oral presentation. To ensure diversity, those who have given talks in the recent past will not be selected and multiple oral presentations from the same lab will be discouraged. Most oral presentations will be 20 minutes in length, but a few papers will be selected for longer "featured oral" presentations. All accepted papers not selected for oral talks may be presented during the poster sessions. Authors will be notified of the presentation format of their papers by the end of April. ABSTRACT PUBLICATION: The formatted abstracts will again be published as a Supplement to the online journal BMC Neuroscience. Last year's abstracts are at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/8?issue=S2. ---------------------------------------------------- From: Bird Flu Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 01:39:42 -0800 (PST) Subject: 6th International Bird Flu Summit, March 27-28, 2008, Bali Dear Colleague, Please find enclosed information on our upcoming 6th Int'l Bird Flu Summit in Bali, Indonesia on March 27-28, 2008. Delegates are coming from US, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me at +202-536-5000 or email me at hbrown@nfemail.com. To register for this event simply fill in the registration form and fax it back to me at +202-280-1239. An updated full agenda and additional information is available on the 6th IBFS Web site at: http://www.new-fields.com/birdflu6/index.php Regards, Hannah Brown Bird Flu Task Force New Fields Exhibitions 1001 Pennsylvania Ave. , NW Suite 600 South Washington, DC 20004, USA T: 202.370.6467 | Fax: 202.280.1239 | Email: hbrown@nfemail.com www.New-Fields.com ---------------------------------------------------- From: Kate Watt Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:21:27 +0000 Subject: Now Online: Inverse Problems, Photo- and Thermo-Acoustic Imaging Inverse Problems is pleased to announce that its latest special section, on Photo- and Thermo-Acoustic Imaging, was published in the December 2007 issue and can be found at: http://herald.iop.org/IPspecialsectiontomoSMB/m55/cid//link/1269 Bringing together theoretical and experimental articles, the section presents a fascinating insight into photo- and thermo-acoustic imaging and was guest edited by Professor Sarah Patch and Professor Otmar Scherzer. We are pleased to make the Guest Editors' introduction and the articles by Cox et al and Kunyanksy featured articles on the journal homepage; to read them for free, visit: http://herald.iop.org/IPfeaturedspecialtomoSMB/m55/cid//link/1270 We hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as we have. Kate Watt Publisher, Inverse Problems ip@iop.org ---------------------------------------------------- From: "Sternberg, Zoe" Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:11:57 -0000 Subject: TOC: Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine, Vol 9 Iss 1 Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine: Volume 9 Issue 1 is now available online at informaworld. This new issue contains the following articles: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g789785336~db=all Evidence that natural immunity to breast cancer and prostate cancer exists in the majority of their risk populations is predicted by a novel, inherently saturated, ordered mutation model p. 1 Authors: Ivan Kramer Correlation of mechanical factors and gallbladder pain p. 27 Authors: W. G. Li; X. Y. Luo; N. A. Hill; A. Smythe; S. B. Chin; A. G. Johnson; N. Bird Modeling and simulation of a bacterial biofilm that is controlled by pH and protonated lactic acids p. 47 Authors: Hassan Khassehkhan; Hermann J. Eberl A total variation-based reconstruction method for dynamic MRI p. 69 Authors: Germana Landi; Elena Loli Piccolomini; Fabiana Zama ---------------------------------------------------- From: Markus Owen Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:19:40 +0000 Subject: PhD Studentships (4): Systems Biology, University of Nottingham School of Mathematical Sciences PhD Studentships in Systems Biology Four PhD studentships are available to mathematically trained applicants as part of a major programme in Systems Biology at the University of Nottingham. Each provides the opportunity to work on a multidisciplinary project developing mathematical models for an important area of biology, namely: (i) Modelling the effect of maternal diet on the development of diseases (such as diabetes and obesity) in adult life (informal enquiries to Professor Helen Byrne, helen.byrne@nottingham.ac.uk). (ii) Predictive modelling of the earliest events in vertebrate embryo development (informal enquiries to Professor John King, john.king@nottingham.ac.uk). (iii) Integrative modelling of angiogenesis and progesterone production in the ovary (informal enquiries to Dr Markus Owen, markus.owen@nottingham.ac.uk). (iv) From model to crop: modelling root development in cereals (informal enquiries to Professor John King, john.king@nottingham.ac.uk). Each project will be co-supervised by a mathematician and experimentalist and the successful applicants will be members of an extensive team working on a wide range of topics at the interface between mathematics and biology. Applicants should have a strong degree in mathematics or a related subject and a commitment to multidisciplinary research. The studentships are available from 1 October 2008 for a period of 4 years. Further information about the School of Mathematical Sciences is available at http://www.maths.nottingham.ac.uk/. Applications can be made on-line at: http://pgapps.nottingham.ac.uk/. Alternatively, application forms are available from the Postgraduate Admissions Secretary, School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD. Tel: +44 (0)115 9514948. Fax: +44 (0)115 9514951. Email: pgmath@maths.nottingham.ac.uk. Students should state clearly that they wish to be considered for these studentships in the Personal Statement section of their application. Closing date: 1 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------- From: sagot@inrialpes.fr Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:45:26 +0100 (CET) Subject: Postdoc Opening: Interaubio Project, University of Lyon 1 Postdoc position in Interaubio Project The Interaubio project gathers teams of modellers and biologists to better understand the functioning, dynamics and evolution of infection by small RNA viruses in mammals. This call for a postdoc of one year (with the possibility of extending it for one more year) is part of this collaborative and strongly interdisciplinary project that involves more than 14 permanent researchers. The core of the project associates experimental research on the interactome of host/virus pathogens with an integrated modelling of different biological networks (protein-protein, metabolic and genetic) in terms of both their structure and their dynamics. The relative simplicity of the biological system studied (the number of viral proteins is small) and the availability of original data from the biological labs participating in this ambitious project offers it a good feasibility. The specific objective of the postdoc is to integrate into the modelling process data coming from the literature on gene expression. The successful candidate will be in charge of doing a meta-analysis of the whole set of published data on the transcriptome of infected cells. He/she will build a database that integrates both published experimental data and computer generated results. The database query system should be applicable to both types of data, including data from previously integrated computer analyses, for instance, to enable an exploration of sets of differentially expressed genes. The results of such queries may lead to the development of further experiments by the wet-lab partners. The postdoc candidate will also work in strong relationship with the researchers developing models for the interactome. The skills required are a good level in bioinformatics which includes a solid background in the statistics of the transcriptome and a good knowledge of database development (within a relational framework, the SGBDI that will be used will be postgres) . A taste for participating in a strongly interdisciplinary and collaborative project is absolutely necessary. Person to contact for further information Christian Gautier UMR 5558 Biometrie et Biologie Evolutive Universite Claude Bernard, Lyon I 43, Bd du 11 novembre 1918 69622 Villeurbanne cedex France Fax: +33 (0)4 72 43 13 88 email: cgautier@biomservuniv-lyon1.fr ---------------------------------------------------- Subject: SMBnet Reminders To subscribe to the SMB Digest please point your browser at http://list.auckland.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/math-smbnet and complete the subscription information. Alternatively, if you prefer to use e-mail, send mail to LISTSERV@listserv.biu.ac.il with "subscribe SMBnet Your Name" in the body of the mail (omit the quotes). After you subscribe, you will receive a greeting with additional information. Submissions to appear in the SMB Digest may be sent to SMBnet(at)smb(dot)org Items of interest to the mathematical biology community may be submitted for inclusion in the SMBnet archive. See instructions at: http://smb.org/publications/SMBnet/pubs/fyi . The SMB Digest is also available on the SMB Home Page at http://smb.org/publications/SMBnet/digest/ The contents of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part with attribution. End of SMB Digest **************************************************** ----------------------------------------------------