International Summer School on Biocomplexity, June 24 - July 1, 2001 in Hanover, New Hampshire

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Abstract

The biological sciences have the potential to become substantially more quantitative because emerging computational and mathematical tools could facilitate collection and analysis of vast amounts of biological data. New methods for computational analysis and mathematical modeling of complex biological processes and signals can be used for characterizing variability and uncertainty of biological data across scales of space and time. For example, such signals or measurements are direct indicators of the biological state of the corresponding cells or organs in an organism. There is an increasing demand for interactions among biologists, engineers, mathematicians, computer scientists and medical researchers in the use of these emerging technologies and methods to be able to develop a new interdisciplinary workforce that is able to understand and facilitate reliable quantitative approaches and answers to the major integrative biological challenges. The main objective of this summer school is to expose undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral biological science and bioengineering students to the relatively new approaches of nonlinear dynamical analysis and biosignal interpretation in complex biological systems, and to facilitate rapid diffusion of these mathematical and computational tools in the biological sciences. These methods will be helpful, also, to both students and post-doctoral fellows in computer science and mathematics who are interested in pursuing research in biology and bioengineering, since the summer school provides exceptional insights into the fundamental challenges in biological sciences. The summer school uses lectures, oriented toward biological science students, by expert faculty. The faculty will describe their research areas, and focus on ways to use the mathematical and computational tools to understand the underlying mechanisms of complex biological systems and processes. In addition to these lectures, the summer school will employ a two-hour panel discussion, with active participation of undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral fellows, focused on future developments in biocomplexity and their potential impacts on biology and medicine. In addition, tutorials and hands-on research projects using computers will allow students to explore real-world biological applications of the new computational and modeling approaches. Students will present the results of their projects in a culminating poster session, which will facilitate discussion of both the biology and computational approaches. The summer school will stimulate further interdisciplinary research and collaborations among engineers, mathematicians, computer scientists, and medical researchers, and will help in identifying new, challenging directions in complex biological science and bioengineering research.