EMSW21-RTG: Complex Biological Systems Across Multiple Space and Time Scales

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

This Research Training Group (RTG) will focus on training a new generation of scientists in (i) the development of analytical and computational algorithms for solving complex spatio-temporal problems that arise in biology and (ii) applications of these and other methods to problems arising in neuroscience and inflammation. In particular, on the computational side, this project will develop effective discretizations of coupled biological processes, iterative solvers and coupling/decoupling strategies. Within the neuroscience application, the investigators will derive new results on propagating waves and sustained activity patterns, synchrony and rhythmicity, noise and synaptic plasticity. Within the inflammation application, the research projects deal with the immune response to influenza infection, inflammation and sepsis, and models of necrotizing enterocolitis and wound healing. This project builds on the research and training experience of the principal investigators who have ongoing successful collaborations with the departments of Neuroscience and of Computational Biology, the Center for Inflammation and Regeneration Modeling and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. The trainees are postdoctoral fellows and graduate and undergraduate students. They will participate in a variety of integrated research and training activities, including regular trainee presentations, journal clubs, working groups and research seminars, semiannual RTG Theme Days, an annual retreat, and an online forum. The biomedical applications targeted in this project are of enormous importance to society, as symbolized by the inclusion of inflammation as an NIH roadmap emphasis area for 2008 and the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research.