A brief intro to mathematical modeling in biology

Schedule

This piloting seminar will take place on Thursday, 24 September, 10:00 – 12:00 CET.

Content

Over a series of seminars on the topic of mathematical modeling, we will explore:

• how can mathematical modeling help us tackle biological questions?
• should you — or should we not — use a mathematical model?
• what is the first thing to think about, even before we start modeling?
• and finally, how would we actually build a model?

In this piloting seminar, we will use this paper as our working example: how anterior-posterior polarity in the C. elegans embryo is established. Rather than starting from abstract equations, we start from the biology and build a mathematical model from the ground up.

By the end of this session, you will learn:

• how to translate what we observe — interactions, transport, diffusion — into differential equations (this step is super cool because it allows us to describe what we know in a very precise way);
• what a steady state is;
• what stable and unstable points are;
• how such stability analysis gives us testable predictions that guide our next experiment;
• and see mathematics as a beautiful language for describing the world.

‍ Format

The seminar will be a chalk talk — a teaching format that focuses on live demonstration and explanation, and the interaction between the presenter and the participants.

As mentioned, this is a piloting seminar. If there’s a mathematical modeling paper you’d love to understand in full detail, please add a link to the paper and register your interest in this google docs! I’d be very happy to choose it for a future seminar.

Who is this seminar for

Anyone is welcome to join, but this is not a beginner’s course. Some basic understanding of calculus will help you get the most out of it.

Location

EMBL Heidelberg – Seminar Room 1D-651B

Organizers

Hi! I am Yuhong Liu — I work at the Data Science Center as a mathematical modeling specialist. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Note

We have limited space in the seminar, so please make sure to sign up early!

Bookings