Complex Biological Systems Group

Department of Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh

Our group is supported in part by the National Science Foundation, Award EMSW21-RTG 0739261.

News and Events

• Upcoming meeting deadlines: Feb. 2 is the deadline for poster submission for the SIAM Conference on the Life Sciences, to be held in Pittsburgh, July 12-15, 2010. Feb. 14 is the deadline for submissions for the CNS*2010 Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting, to be held in San Antonio, TX, July 24-30, 2010.
• Math bio seminars Jan-May, 2010: This semester, students and postdocs will be presenting their research results Thursdays 12:30-1:30 in Thackeray 704. Schedule.
• December 8, 2009 -- Special math neuro seminar: Visit and seminar by Michael Buice from the National Institutes of Health.
• November, 2009 -- Paper accepted! Congratulations to graduate student Justin Dunmyre on the acceptance of his paper, "Optimal intrinsic dynamics for bursting in a three-cell network" (with J. Rubin) for publication in SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems.
• October 27, 2009 -- Special math neuro seminar: Visit and seminar by Jianzhong Su from University of Texas, Arlington.
• August, 2009 -- New postdoc arrives We welcome postdoc Jared Barber, from University of Arizona, to our group.
• August, 2009 -- Preliminary exam success: Congratulations to graduate student Pamela Reitsma on passing the Preliminary Examinations! Way to go, Pam!
• Summer, 2009 -- Summer research by undergraduates: Our CBSG summer research undergraduate students for 2009 are Chris Horvat (Pitt), Michaelangelo Tabone (Pitt), Hannah Vogel (CMU), and Christian Woods (Pitt).
• May 7-8, 2009 -- CBSG Theme Days: The first CBSG Theme Days was a great success! In May 2009, the CBSG had the pleasure of hosting Leah Edelstein-Keshet (University of British Columbia), Hong Qian (University of Washington), Rebecca Segal (Virginia Commonwealth University), Lance Davidson (Pitt), and Jim Faeder (Pitt) at the University of Pittsburgh for a 2-day meeting on cell motility, wound healing, and cell signaling. The meeting provided an environment in which graduate students, postdocs, and faculty members could interact and discuss signaling, rule-based, and mechanical modeling approaches for cell migration. Experimental observations and findings were also presented and provided useful insight into the study of large scale movements of cells and tissues.
• April 3, 2009 -- MAA Sectional Meeting: Undergraduates Kevin Kroll and Dan Vargo traveled with Dr. Rubin, graduate student Justin Dunmyre, and several other undergraduates to the MAA Allegheny Section Meeting at Wheeling Jesuit University, where they will gave talks on their research projects.
• March 31, 2009 -- New Publication: Congratulations to graduate student Tracy Stepien on the publication of her paper, Tubuloglomerular Feedback-Mediated Dynamics in Three Coupled Nephrons, in the journal SIAM Undergraduate Research Online! The paper is available online. See our publications link on the sidebar for a complete listing of publications by group members.
• February 21, 2009 -- Regional conference: Undergraduates Marissa Goldrich, Chris Horvat, Kristen Pueschel, Vikram Raghu, Michaelangelo Tabone, and Christian Woods will travel with Dr. Swigon to Youngstown State University, where they will give talks on their research projects at the Pi Mu Epsilon Regional Conference.
• January 5, 2009 -- Welcome back! Our winter/spring semester started January 5th. We will be having 2 seminar/journal clubs this semester: Mathematical Neuroscience on Tuesdays, 11:45 - 12:45, and Parameter Estimation Methods on Wednesdays, 1:00 - 2:00, both in Thackeray 703. The general Math Neuro topic for this semester is oscillations and rhythms in pathology or altered brain states. Follow the Seminars link on the side tab for weekly updates on these seminars.
• September 12, 2008 -- David Swigon and Anna Vainchtein are organizing a conference on Constitutive Properties of Biomaterials that will take place on September 19-21 at the Frick Fine Arts building on Oakland Campus. The conference is sponsored by the Society for Natural Philosophy, the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications and the University of Pittsburgh. The goal of the meeting is to facilitate interaction between experts in experimental study of biomaterials on one hand and mathematical modeling and nonlinear continuum mechanics on the other, that will promote the exchange of ideas while enabling new interdisciplinary collaborations advancing understanding of the role of mechanics in biology.

  Among the invited speakers are Davide Ambrosi (Politecnico di Torino), Bernard Coleman (Rutgers University), Stephen Cowin (City College of NY), John Criscione (Texas A&M), Roger Fosdick (University of Minnesota) and Larry Taber (Washington University). For more information see the conference website.

• August 29, 2008: The weekly meetings of the Mathematical Neuroscience Journal Club will be held on Tuesdays in Thackeray Hall 703 at 12pm. Lunch will be provided. This semester’s theme is the visual system. The first meeting will be on September 2, the reading can be found on the Seminars page.

  The weekly meetings of Inflammation Journal Club will be held on Thursdays in Thackeray Hall 704 at 12:30pm. Lunch will be provided. This semester’s theme is modeling infectious diseases. The first meeting is September 4, the reading can be found on the Seminars page.

• August 23, 2008 Our welcome orientation was held today and overall it was a success. The session was attended by about 30 people, including the faculty and postdocs, some of our senior graduate students, all of our incoming graduate students, and some undergraduate students eager to learn about the group . We were especially happy to welcome among us two new postdocs Julia Arciero (coming from University of Arizona) and Stefanos Folias (from Boston University) and four new graduate students: Callie Johnson, Sherry Linn, Pamela Reitsma, and Tracy Stepien.

  After breakfast we moved to Room 704 where Jon Rubin began the orientation with an overview of this year’s activities and organizational matters. (The notes can be found here.) Then the faculty members of the program, David Swigon, Ivan Yotov, Gilles Clermont, Yoram Vodovotz, Jon Rubin, Brent Doiron, and Bard Ermentrout presented overviews of their research activities, slides of which you can find under the links. We finished with a tasty lunch organized by our helpful staff of Judith Kampert and Melissa Weidman, to whom we hereby thank. For pictures from the event see Photos page.

• May 17, 2008 The first RTG activity will be a welcome/orientation session to be held Saturday, August 23, starting at 9 AM, in Thackeray Hall rooms 704-5. The agenda for this session will be to provide an overview of the group's research activities, of what's in store for the year ahead, and of relevant resources on campus, as well as for all of us to meet in person and get to know each other a little better. All PI's and training faculty are welcome to give an overview of the relevant research projects with which they are involved. There will not be a precise timetable for the session but we'll aim to have lunch, which will be provided, around noon.
• April 5, 2008 We have kicked off the RTG program with a party organized by Bard Ermentrout and attended by most of our faculty, postdocs, and graduate students. The food was spectacular and entertainment even better. For incriminating pictures see our Photos page.