International Conference: Mathematical tools for multi-scale biological processes, June 2008. Bozeman, MT

在过去的二十年中，生物学从生物过程的数学模型中获得了大量的见解。近十年来，分子生物学和系统生物学的空前发展对数学家提出了挑战，要求他们在细胞和亚细胞水平上开发适合复杂生物学的建模技术。越来越清楚的是，活细胞中的过程不能用静态描述来描述，而必须用动态过程来建模。这导致用微分方程的集合来描述，通常带有随机成分并包括空间依赖性。这次会议将汇集研究从单个分子过程到整个生态系统的数学生物学家。会议的目的是促进在这些广泛不同的尺度上发现系统之间的相似性。过去十年遗传和分子生物学的革命保证了在不久的将来医学科学的巨大进步。癌症、阿尔茨海默病和遗传疾病等许多人类疾病的研究进展都与我们对导致这些疾病的分子机制的理解有关。每一天的每一秒，每个细胞中都有数以百计的化学反应维持着我们的生命。虽然我们越来越了解这些反应的参与者是谁，但我们不了解他们是如何被控制和监管的。数学模型可以指导必要的实验，这些实验需要解开这个相互关联的过程的发条。会议将汇集数学系统生物学领域的顶尖科学家，交流思想并建立新的合作关系，以帮助分子生物学实现其医学前景。会议的参与者在性别、地理来源和职业阶段方面构成了一个多样化的发言者群体，其中包括科学界代表性不足的群体的成员。

In the past twenty years biology has greatly benefited from insights gathered from mathematical models of biological processes. The unprecedented growth of molecular and systems biology in last 10 years challenges mathematicians to develop modeling techniques appropriate for the intricate biology on a cellular and sub-cellular level. It is increasingly clear that the processes in a living cell cannot be captured by static descriptions, but must be modeled as dynamical processes. This leads to descriptions by sets of differential equations, often with a stochastic component and including spatial dependencies. The conference will bring together mathematical biologists working on systems ranging from individual molecular processes to entire ecosystems. The aim of the conference is to facilitate the discovery of similarities between systems at these widely different scales.The revolution in genetic and molecular biology of the past decade promises a great advancement in medical science in the near future. The progress on many human diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's disease and genetic diseases is tied to our understanding of molecular mechanisms causing them. Every second of every day hundreds of chemical reactions in each cell sustain our lives. While we increasingly know who the players in these reactions are, we do not understand how they are controlled and regulated. Mathematical models can guide the necessary experiments that are needed to untangle this clockwork of interconnected processes. The conference will bring together the leading scientists in mathematical systems biology to exchange the ideas and establish new collaborations in order to help molecular biology to deliver on its medical promise. The conference participants constitute a diverse group of speakers in terms of gender, geographic origin, as well as career stages, and include members of underrepresented groups in science.