Relevant Talks

Spring 2006

Distinguished Lecture Series

Professor Ward Watt

Department of Biological Sciences

Stanford University

Title: "Vertically integrated biocomplexity: tracing natural selection from molecular structures to niche structures"

Time: 4:00pm March 9, Thursday

Place: Galvin Auditorium

Biocomplexity Seminars, Lectures and Workshops

Tuesday, March 2 – 4:00pm

DeBartolo 140

Tea: 3:30pm

Robert D. Skeel

Computer Science & Mathematics, Purdue University

Title: "Fast electrostatics and polarizable force fields"

Host: Jesus Izaguirre

Monday - March 6 - 4:00PM

Qing Nie

Mathematics Department, University of California – Irvine

Title: “Robustness of Morphogen Gradients”

127 Hayes-Healy Center TEA - 3:30 PM in 257 Hurley Host: Mark Alber

Co-sponsored by CAM and ICSB

Thursday, March 9 - 4pm

Distinguished Lecture Series

Ward Watt

Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University

Title:"Vertically integrated biocomplexity: tracing natural selection from molecular structures to niche structures"

Place: Galvin Auditorium

Hosts: Jessica Hellmann and Mark Alber

Spring CAM Workshop in Stochastic Modeling, March 23-26, 2006

http://www.cam.nd.edu/StochasticModeling/index.htm

Speakers in Biomodeling:

Alan Bishop, Theoretical Division Leader, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Philip Maini, Director, Center for Mathematical Biology, Oxford University

William Kath, Co-Director, Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems

Co-sponsored by CAM and ICSB

Tuesday, March 28 - 4pm

DeBartolo 120

Tea: 3:30pm

Eric Darve

Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University

Title: "Computing free energy using thermodynamic integration"

Host: Jesus Izaguirre

Wednesday, April 5 - 4pm

127 Hayes-Healy Center

*TEA -3:30 PM in 257 Hurley

Natalia Komarova

Mathematics Department, University of California, Irvine

Title: Somatic evolution and cancer

Host: Mark Alber

Sponsored by CAM

April 7-9: Workshop on Modeling Cancer and a Special Session on Mathematical Biology at the AMS Meeting at Notre Dame

DeBartolo Hall

DeBartolo 120

Tea: 3:30pm

Ron Elber

Computer Science & Computaitonal Biology, Cornell University

Title: "Computational Molecular Biophysics at broad range of time scales"

Host: Jesus Izaguirre

Thursday, April 27

DeBartolo 140

Tea: 3:30pm

Nathan Baker

Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Washington University St Louis

Title: "Theory and modeling of biomolecular solvation: applications to ion-membrane interactions"

Host: Jesus Izaguirre

American Mathematical Society Meeting (Debartolo Hall)
Special Session on Modeling Cancer

Organizers: Mark Alber and Bei Hu
April 8

8:30 - 9:15, Leonard Sander, Physics Department, U of Michigan, TBA

9:30 - 10:15, Yuan Lou, Department of Mathematics, Ohio State University
Advection-mediated coexistence of competing

10:30 - 11:15, Yi Jiang, Los Alamos National Laboratory,
A Multiscale Model for Tumor Growth

3:00 - 3:45, Howard A Levine, Iowa State University,
A mathematical model for the regulation of tumor dormancy based on enzyme kinetics.

4:00 - 4:45, Avner Friedman, Director, Mathematical Biology Institute, Ohio State University,

Virotherapy in brain cancer

April 9

8:30 - 9:15, Paul Jianjun Tian, Ohio State University
Finite-time perturbations of dynamical systems and applications

9:30 - 10:15, Eric W Kuennen, Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh,

A 3D Off-lattice Radial Eden Cluster Growth Model

3:00 - 3:45, Sanjukta Hota, department of Mathematics, Fisk University,
Effect of Compliance on TGI Efficiency: experimental and mathematical analyses

4:00 - 4:45, Natalia L Komarova, Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine,

Cancer as somatic evolution

Wednesday, February 15 4:00 p.m. NSH 118 (Refreshments at 3:30 p.m. NSH 284)

On Pattern Formation and Cell Aggregation in Biology

Professor Mark Alber
Department of Mathematics and
Center for the Study of Biocomplexity
University of Notre Dame

Abstract:

In this talk I will review recent progress in modeling collective behavior in Myxobacteria using stochastic discrete systems [1-4]. Myxobacteria are social bacteria that swarm and glide on surfaces, and feed cooperatively. When starved, tens of thousands of cells change their movement pattern from outward spreading to inward concentration; they form aggregates that become fruiting bodies. Cells inside fruiting bodies differentiate into round, nonmotile, environmentally resistant spores. Traditionally, cell aggregation has been considered to imply chemotaxis, a long-range cell interaction. However, myxobacteria aggregation is the consequence of direct cell-contact interactions, not chemotaxis.

I will also present the foundation of a unified, object-oriented, three-dimensional environment for modeling morphogenesis [5], which allows one to integrate multiple submodels at scales from subcellular to those of tissues and organs. Our current implementation combines a modified discrete model from statistical mechanics, the Cellular Potts Model, with a continuum reaction-diffusion model and a state automaton with well-defined conditions for cell differentiation transitions to model genetic regulation.

References:

[1] Sozinova, O., Jiang , Y., Kaiser, D., Alber, M., A three-dimensional model of myxobacterial aggregation by contact-mediated interactions, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102, 11308-11312 (2005).
[2] Alber, M.S., Kiskowski, M.A. and Jiang, Y. Two-Stage Aggregate Formation via Streams in Myxobacteria, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 068102 (2004).
[3]. Alber, M.S. Jiang, Y. and Kiskowski, M.A. Lattice gas cellular automata model for rippling and aggregation in myxobacteria. Physica D 191, 343{358 (2004).
[4] Alber, M.S.,Jiang, Y. and Kiskowski, M. A., Role of streams in Aggregation Formation in Myxobacteria, Phys. Biol. 1, 173-183 (2004).
[5] Chaturvedi, R., C. Huang, B. Kazmierczak, T. Schneider, J. A. Izaguirre, T. Glimm, H.G.E. Hentschel, J. A. Glazier, S. A. Newman, M. Alber, On Multiscale Approaches to 3-Dimensional Modeling of Morphogenesis, Journal of the Royal Society Interface 2 3, 237-253 (2005).