Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute on Cells to Ecosystems: Frontiers in Collaborative Quantitative Physics-Based Multiscale Modeling of Complex Biological Processes

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

This Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes (PASI) award, jointly supported by the NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE), will take place in July, 2013 at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Organized by Dr. James A. Glazier of the Physics Department at Indiana University in Bloomington, the institute will focus on many of the key mathematical approaches currently used in modeling biological phenomena in contemporary biology. The development and function of tissues and organs rely on a complex web of interactions that occur on a multitude of scales ranging from individual proteins to tissue networks. The PASI will gather leading researchers from a variety of modeling disciplines to teach their methodologies through lectures and computer laboratories, and to promote interdisciplinary collaborations among participants in order to address key biological problems. PASI participants will include experimental biologists, computational biologists, and mathematical biologists at the advanced undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. This PASI will introduce students to many important techniques in the above subjects. In addition to the exposure and mentoring of young scientists to state-of-the-art methods, the activity will foster international collaboration among researchers from the US and different countries in the Americas. The results from the PASI, including presentations and videos, will be disseminated through a website and other media to serve as a resource for students and researchers interested in biological modeling.