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Host: University of British Columbia
Sponsor: PIMS
Homepage: http://www.pims.math.ca/sections/activities/cell.html
Organizers: Leah Keshet
Description:
The fields of molecular and cellular biology have undergone explosive growth over the last decade, with a wealth of biological detail emerging from high-tech experimental techniques. The
life of the cell, down to its smallest components is now the subject of intense scrutiny. We know more about the way that the cell is shaped, controlled, how it moves and divides, how it
senses and reacts to its environment, and how it influences other cells, than ever before. The way that cell aggregates work together to produce multicellular structures with their own
repertoire of behaviour is also a fascinating and fervent area of research. Many of the speakers in this list have worked productively at the interface of mathematics and biology. Their
collective understanding, synergy, and presentation strengths will make this an exciting and informative session. The order of the topics will proceed from the subcellular and gradually go
up the hierarchical scale, highlighting some of the most exciting and productive areas of cross-fertilization of mathematical, theoretical and experimental work.
This session will focus on a number of specific topics:
Subcellular molecular dynamics and control of cell behaviour. This topic focuses on the behaviour of molecular systems that lead to periodic behaviour, e.g., in cells and in hormonal systems, bifurcation, or other dynamical results that are closely linked with the function of the cell. Signal transduction and calcium dynamics with their implications for cellular behaviour, as well as cellular and intra- cellular oscillations and feedback will form the main theme.
The cellular cytoskeleton. The role that mathematicians who have studied detailed experimental systems have played in understanding the details of the cell will be highlighted. An example is the detailed demonstration of the involvement of various parts of the structure of the cytoskeleton in key steps of the developmental process of a drosophila embryo.
Molecular motors to muscle motion. The mathematical analysis of molecular motors and the role which such analysis plays in understanding the way that molecular motors work will be described. Experimental biologists have studied muscles for some time, and they now are developing an understanding of how motor aggregates (myosin) arrayed along a one dimensional filament work cooperatively to produce muscle motion.
Biotechnology applications of cell biology. Cellular components can be used in designing articificial skin grafts, and artificial vessels. The understanding of the interactions of cells with their molecular components and extracellular matrix is vital to success in biomedical applications. A particular problem is how the cytoskeleton dynamics affects signal transduction.
Cell-surface receptors, the cytoskeleton, and cell division. Two topics will be discussed. One topic will focus on the way that cells sense their environment and respond to incoming signals. Cell-surface receptors are important and experiments and models for the diffusional and interaction dynamics of such systems have been developed. The second topic is on the problem of cytokinesis, cell-division, and how the cell accomplishes this complex task. Numerical simulations of the dynamics of the cytoskeleton have been carried out.
Cell motion and interaction: models and visualization. The important problem of cell motion from the point of view of many cells, cell aggregates, and interactions of cells with one another and with their environment will be discussed. Models have been developed for cell motion, chemotaxis, and interactions, including immunological networks. New computational techniques, e.g., immersed boundary methods, can be used to show the motions and and interactions of cells, e.g., in models of biofilms.
Speakers: Dean Bottino, Micah Dembo, Evan Evans, Victoria Foe, Byron Goldstein, Alex Mogilner, Gary Odell, Lee Segel, Carla Wofsy
Date received: May 06, 1999
© 2008 Atlas Conferences Inc.