UBM Institutional: Integrated Research in Biomathematics at Trinity University

这项建议建立在三一大学对数学生物学日益增长的跨学科关注的基础上，之前得到了连续两次HHMI拨款的支持。在这里，我们寻求增加进行跨学科研究项目的教师数量，以促进数学和生物专业的学生进行更可持续、更广泛的跨学科学习。参与的数学和生物学系将与这两个学科的学生在以下项目上展开合作：(1)对勉强糊粉层的热休克反应进行建模；(2)在大型DNA序列数据集中进行同源性检测；(3)蛋白质定位的定量描述；(4)将竞争作为入侵成功的决定因素；(5)对哺乳动物的空间分布进行建模；(6)对黑质多巴胺能神经元的线粒体功能和死亡进行数学建模；以及(7)将Lambda-Escherichia K12混合噬菌体种群的恒化器繁殖作为捕食-被捕食共同进化的模型系统。这些项目代表了一些生物和数学分支学科的专门知识，包括遗传学、生态学、细胞生物学、神经科学、统计学、概率、动力系统、差分方程式、数学生物学、代数几何和系统以及数据建模。未来大多数科学研究的成功将需要跨学科的思考。然而，即使在目前的博士项目中，也很难实现真正的跨学科研究环境。在本科生层面，由于对不完整学科背景和年轻研究人员认知发展的认识，跨学科合作传统上受到更多限制。为了在数学和生物学的交叉点迎接这一挑战，三一大学的生物数学综合研究(IRBM)计划将通过建立教职员工和学生之间的研究伙伴关系以及深化我们的课程合作来建立我们两个系之间的关系。具体地说，我们建议建立由这两个学科的本科生和教职员工研究人员组成的研究小组，将生物和数学方法应用于广泛的生物问题。为了支持这些学生和其他学生，各系将开设新的跨学科课程，并加强现有课程的合作，最终设立一个新的辅修生物数学。通过这些变化，我们将吸引具有广泛兴趣和准备的本科生，同时发展更大的志同道合的研究人员社区，所有这些都是为了让这些学生为未来的跨学科研究做好准备。

This proposal builds upon a growing interdisciplinary focus on Mathematical Biology at Trinity University previously supported by two consecutive HHMI grants. Here, we seek to increase the number of faculty conducting interdisciplinary research programs to catalyze more sustainable, widespread interdisciplinary learning among Mathematics and Biology majors. Participating mathematics and biology faculty will work in teams with students from both disciplines on projects including (1) Modeling the heat shock response of barely aleurone layers; (2) Homology detection in large DNA sequence datasets; (3) Quantitative description of protein localization; (4) Modeling competition as a determinant of invasion success; (5) Modeling spatial distributions of mammals; (6) Mathematical modeling of mitochondrial function and death of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons; and (7) Chemostat propagation of mixed bacteriophage Lambda-Escherichia coli K12 populations as a model system of predator-prey co-evolution. These projects represent expertise from a number of biological and mathematical subdisciplines, including genetics, ecology, cell biology, neuroscience, statistics, probability, dynamical systems, difference equations, mathematical biology, algebraic geometry and systems and data modeling. Success in most future scientific endeavors will require interdisciplinary thinking. A truly interdisciplinary research environment is difficult to achieve, however, even among current PhD programs. At the undergraduate level, interdisciplinary collaborations have traditionally been even more limited due to the perception of incomplete disciplinary backgrounds and ongoing cognitive development of young researchers. To meet this challenge at the intersection between mathematics and biology, the Integrated Research in Biomathematics(IRBM) at Trinity University initiative will build on the relationship between our departments by forming research partnerships involving faculty and students, as well as deepening our curricular collaboration.Specifically, we propose to establish research groups consisting of undergraduate and faculty researchers from both of these disciplines that will apply biological and mathematics approaches to a wide spectrum of biological questions. To support these and other students, the departments will offer new interdisciplinary courses, as well as increase the collaboration in existing courses, culminating in the creation of a new minor in biomathematics. Through these changes we will engage undergraduates with a wide range of interests and preparation, while developing a larger community of like-minded researchers, all in an effort to prepare these students for the future of interdisciplinary research.