Workshop on Applications of Methods of Stochastic Systems and Statistical Physics in Biology

由圣母大学生物复杂性研究跨学科中心、印第安纳大学生物复杂性研究所、洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室和工业与应用数学学会(SIAM)联合举办的跨学科研讨会“随机系统和统计物理方法在生物学中的应用”的目标是：1)讨论在生物建模中具有重要意义的随机分析和统计物理的新方法，并为建模和实验提出新的问题；2)探索由噪声引起的复杂生物现象之间的异同；3)促进对生物学随机行为建模感兴趣的数学家、生物学家、化学家、物理学家和工程师之间的互动，以及4)为初级教师和研究生提供一个与广泛的专家互动的论坛，并吸引新的研究人员进入生物建模领域。这些主题将涵盖从单分子相互作用和遗传学到系统生物学和生态学的长度尺度。会议将包括一次公开讲座、一次主旨演讲、四次口头会议、一次海报会议和一次关于未来方向的小组讨论。研讨会的科学重点将集中在1)生物和医学研究中需要随机和统计方法的突出问题，2)使这种方法的应用复杂化的主要数学问题，3)可用于解决2)中问题的非生物随机和统计建模的最佳当前解决方案和现有解决方案。研讨会将汇集许多学科的研究人员(包括数学、实验和理论生物学、医学研究、生物物理学、工程学和计算机科学)，讨论随机系统和统计物理方法在单分子生物物理学、艾滋病毒免疫学和心脏电生理学等问题上的当前和未来应用。该讲习班将促进生物学实验和理论研究的合作和发展，并使广泛的外部研究人员了解复杂生物系统的数学和计算建模问题。这种交叉培养应该有助于数学、物理和工程界与生物学家取得联系，从而产生新的数学和计算方法，这将提高我们对生物学基本问题的理解。

The objectives of the interdisciplinary workshop "Applications of Methods of Stochastic Systems and Statistical Physics in Biology", jointly organized by the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Biocomplexity at the University of Notre Dame, Biocomplexity Institute at Indiana University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and in cooperation with the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), are to: 1) Discuss new methods of stochastic analysis and statistical physics of importance in biological modeling and suggest new problems for modeling and experiment; 2) Explore similarities and differences between complex biological phenomena due to noise; 3) Promote interactions between mathematicians, biologists, chemists, physicists and engineers with interests in modeling stochastic behavior in biology and 4) Provide a forum for junior faculty and graduate students to interact with a wide range of experts and attract new researchers to the field of biological modeling. The topics will cover length scales from single molecule interactions and genetics to systems biology and ecology. The meeting will consist of a public lecture, a keynote address, four oral sessions, a poster session and a panel discussion on future directions. The scientific focus of the workshop will be on 1) the outstanding problems in biological and medical research which require stochastic and statistical approaches, 2) the main mathematical issues which complicate applications of such methods and 3) the best current solutions and existing solutions from non-biological stochastic and statistical modeling which can be applied to solve the problems in 2). The Workshop will bring together researchers in many disciplines (including mathematics, experimental and theoretical biology, medical research, biophysics, engineering, and computer science) to discuss current and future applications of methods of stochastic systems and statistical physics to problems ranging from single molecular biophysics to HIV immunology and cardiac electrophysiology. This Workshop will promote collaboration and development of both experimental and theoretical studies of biology and expose a broad range of outside researchers to problems in mathematical and computational modeling of complex biological systems. This cross fertilization should help mathematical, physical and engineering communities in reaching out to biologists, resulting in new mathematical and computational approaches which will improve our understanding of the fundamental problems in biology.