For example, Roger Nisbet, a biologist at the University of California-Santa Barbara, is showcasing a mathematical model he uses to track energy flow through an individual organism from its acquisition to its use in growth, reproduction, and survival. Such models of "dynamic energy budgets," Nisbet says, can also improve understanding of energy requirements of populations. The approach may also be used to help scientists predict the consequences of climate change.
Another example comes from the study of the heavens. In his earlier career as an astrophysicist, Niels Otani, now a biomedical engineer, became familiar with eigenmode analysis, a standard method in astro- and geophysics, but generally unknown among biologists. It has been applied to studies of the surface of the sun, earthquakes, hurricanes and condensed-matter physics. Did Otani ever consider using it in his new realm?
In a heartbeat.
Otani and his research team at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland are combining the eigenmode approach with other simulation techniques to track more closely the chemical dynamics that determine cardiac rhythms. According to Otani, "This has enabled us to devise novel methods which may be effective in eliminating undesirable components in abnormal cardiac rhythms."
Other sessions focus on how computational tools can advance research into the biochemistry of evolution, the causes of asthma, the prediction of epileptic seizures, the uptake of carbon dioxide by forests, and, in vertebrates, the ability of cells to "self-organize" into tissues and the mechanisms that create limbs. The participants are also examining efforts to add mathematical-modeling exercises into undergraduate biology labs.
Eugene Bruce, who directs integrative activities in bio
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Contact: Sean Kearns
skearns@nsf.gov
703-292-8070
National Science Foundation
27-Mar-2003