From individual cell behavior to biological growth and form
In the autumn semester of 2015, we will be teaching the third edition of the course “Multiscale Mathematical Biology” at the Mathematical Institute of Leiden University. The course introduces students to the mathematical and computational biology of multicellular phenomena, covering a range of biological examples, including development of animals and plants, blood vessel growth, bacterial pattern formation and diversification, tumor growth and evolution.
Date: 2 September – 23 December 2015
Target audience: The course is open to 3rd year Bachelor and 1st year Master students in Mathematics, Biology, Life Sciences & Technology, and related disciplines.
Required knowledge: Basic background in biology is useful (in particular cell biology or developmental biology) but not required. Some programming skills and familiarity with numerical algorithms and differential equations are useful, but not required.
Course description: How does the genetic information encoded in the DNA produce the three-dimensional shape and function of multicellular organisms: animals and plants? A key question here is how cells cooperate to create biological structure, and how this biological structure feeds back on gene expression. This course will introduce students to the mathematical and computational biology of multicellular phenomena, covering a range of biological examples, including development of animals and plants, blood vessel growth, bacterial pattern formation and diversification, tumor growth and evolution.
At the end of course students will have an overview of and some hands-on experience with a range of mathematical and computational techniques (PDEs, cellular automata, Cellular Potts model, vertex-based models, etc.) that computational biologist use in the study of collective cell behavior and biological pattern formation. They are familiar with recent literature on multiscale biological modeling and they have some experience with constructing basic computational models and hypotheses of phenomena described in the biological literature.
The course consists of a series of lectures, practical assignments using biological modeling environments. The course is concluded with a report on the practical work and a written exam.
