Professor Guo-Wei Wei

   Department of Mathematics,Michigan State University, USA

   E-mail: wei@math.msu.edu

Abstract: A major feature of biological sciences in the 21st Century will be their transition from phenomenological and descriptive disciplines to quantitative and predictive ones. Revolutionary opportunities have emerged for mathematically driven advances in biological research. However, the emergence of complexity in self-organizing biological systems poses fabulous challenges to their quantitative description because of the excessively high dimensionality. A crucial question is how to reduce the number of degrees of freedom, while preserving the fundamental physics in complex biological systems. In this talk I will talk about emerging trends in molecular biology and associated opportunities in mathematical biology. One of these trends is the study of organelles, subcellular structures and multiprotein complexes, and another trend is the investigation of molecular mechanism in cellular interactions. Relevant mathematical approaches, including algebraic, geometric, topological, partial differential equation, combinatory, and stochastic will be discussed. A new multiscale and multiphysical paradigm will be introduced.

The talk will conclude with a brief discussion of a new Molecular Based Mathematical Biology journal and an invitation to contribute to the journal through general submissions and a new special issue.  

Date&Time: August 8, 2012 (Wednesday), 15:00 – 16:00
Location: 606 Conference Room