2019 Quantitative Biology (q-bio) Summer School at Rice University

该奖项将为参与者提供部分支持，参加2019年7月15日至29日在莱斯大学举行的为期两周的q-bio暑期学校。缩写“q-bio”来自定量生物学，它指的是结合生物学和数学方法，以深入了解健康和疾病中生物细胞进化和功能的过程。一个这样的例子是单个细胞对刺激物（如病毒）的反应：每个细胞以不同的（“嘈杂”）方式反应，但它们的相互作用会产生协调的免疫反应。预测这种反应需要先进的模拟和化学反应理论。这个学校活动的目的是鼓励早期职业科学家追求定量系统生物学，同时提供一个专业网络和新成果和想法交流的论坛。参与者将参与研究项目，其中一些导致科学进步和出版物。项目委员会，包括组织委员会和排名教师的成员，选择入学申请人，并决定经济援助。暑期学校的活动包括两个主题：癌症动力学和进化以及随机细胞调节。主题应涵盖随机性和细胞间变异性的测量和建模的生化系统。重点将放在少数重要分子（即基因，RNA和蛋白质）对活细胞动力学的影响上。讲座将回顾分子生物学中随机效应的实验表现，可以使用单细胞和单分子技术进行测量。讲座将讨论用于模拟这些系统的最新分析和数值方法，并展示这些方法如何改善实验数据的解释。讲座将讨论不同的细胞机制如何控制和/或利用随机性，以便在不确定的环境中生存。讲座将涵盖许多时间和长度尺度的主题，从细胞增殖和突变动力学的基本问题，影响细胞中特定途径的分子事件，到群体遗传学效应。暑期学校的这一部分将包括一些导师建议的小组项目，学生将应用各种数值技术来制定，识别和解决癌症演变的随机模型。然后，学生将应用这些工具来模拟实验和临床数据。更多信息可以在qbSS网站www.example.com上找到http://q-bio.org/wp/qbss/.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award shall provide partial support for participants to a two-week q-bio Summer school in July 15-29, 2019 at Rice University. The abbreviation "q-bio" is derived from Quantitative Biology and it refers to combined biological and mathematical methods of obtaining insights into processes that underlie evolution and functioning of biological cells in health and disease. One such example is response of individual cells to stimuli such as viruses: Each cell responds in different ("noisy") way, but their interaction elicits coordinated immune response. Predicting this response requires advanced simulations and theory of chemical reactions. The purpose of this school activity is to encourage early career scientists to pursue quantitative systems biology and concurrently provide a forum for professional networking and the exchange of new results and ideas. The participants will be involved in research projects, some of which lead to scientific progress and publications. The Program Committee, including the members of Organizing Committee and ranking faculty, selects applicants for admission and decides about financial aid. Diversity of participants is strongly promoted.The summer school activities include two tracks: Cancer Dynamics and Evolution and Stochastic Cell Regulation. The topics shall cover stochasticity and cell-to-cell variability in the measurement and modeling of biochemical systems. Emphasis will be given to the effects that small numbers of important molecules (i.e. genes, RNA, and protein) have on the dynamics of living cells. The lectures will review experimental manifestations of stochastic effects in molecular biology, as can be measured using single-cell and single-molecule techniques. The lectures will discuss the most recent analytical and numerical methods that are used to model these systems and show how these methods can improve interpretation of experimental data. The lecture will discuss how different cellular mechanisms control and/or exploit randomness in order to survive in uncertain environments. Lectures will cover topics spanning many time- and length-scales, from the fundamental issues of cell proliferation and mutation dynamics, to molecular events affecting specific pathways in cells, to population genetics effects. This section of the summer school will include a number of instructor-suggested group projects, in which students will apply various numerical techniques to formulate, identify and solve stochastic models of cancer evolution. Students will then apply these tools to model experimental and clinical data. More information can be found at the qbSS website http://q-bio.org/wp/qbss/.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.