MATHEMATICS IN CELL PHYSIOLOGY AND PROLIFERATION.
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First Announcement (October 1998)
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In the same spirit and hopefully with the same success as the First
Summer School, which took place in St. Flour (France 1997), a Second
Summer School of Mathematical Biology will take place in Termoli (CB,
Italy) between June 6 and June 19, 1999.
The subject of the school will be mathematical methods applied to
the study of cell and molecular biology. The goal of the school is to
offer doctoral students and young post-doctoral researchers a
presentation of some mathematical techniques widely used in modelling
problems in cell physiology and proliferation, together with a review of
a selection of some such problems of contemporary relevance. The target
audience is mainly composed of advanced graduate students and post-
graduates in the life sciences and in mathematical disciplines (math,
applied math, physics, engineering).
Termoli is a pleasant seaside town in southern Italy, on the
Adriatic coast. It features a tiny medieval village perched on a rocky
promontory thrust out on the sea, as well as a modern part towards the
interior and along the beaches north and south of the rock. Weather is
mild to warm, sunny most of the time. Do not forget your bathing suit.
From the city port, the splendid Tremiti Isles can be reached by boat in
about one hour, and are likely to be the destination of a daily trip.
Termoli may be reached by train (train station is within walking
distance of the school venue).
Classes: Duration of the school is two weeks, including 10 days of
classes, Monday through Friday. Each day there will be 8 lecture units of
40 min by the staff and by invited speakers, practice sessions and
lectures contributed by participants.
The afternoon sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be carried
out at the Mario Negri Pharmacological Research Institute (Consorzio
Mario Negri Sud, Santa Maria Imbaro, Chieti), the purpose being to expose
the participants of the school to real-life biological problems voiced in
discussions with the Mario Negri researchers.
The language of the school is English. Most school activities will
take place in the same hotel where rooms and meals are provided. Most of
the lecture sequences will be completed in a single week, biological
subjects being treated in the first week and more theoretical subjects
being treated in the second week. Bound collected notes will be provided
to the school participants upon arrival to the school venue.
The number of participants is limited to 60. Interested biological and
mathematical researchers, PhD students and postdoctoral fellows are
encouraged to apply. While the registration fee is fixed, accomodation
costs will be assessed on the basis of effective stay. The foreseen
average cost of the school to participants, on the basis of the presently
expected funding by institutional sponsors, is of the order of 800 Euro
(double room, 15 days, full board and lodging, registration and social
programme included). The organizing committee is actively seeking more
funding in order to further substantially reduce the cost to
participants.
An updated description of the school may be found at the web page
http://space.tin.it/scienza/hjcas/biomasch.htm
For all email communications please use the address
biomath@tin.it
Calendar:
September 1998: First announcement, topics covered
February,15 1999: Second announcement, program and logistics
May 1, 1999: Deadline for submission of lecture notes and
contributed presentations
May 20, 1999: Deadline for pre-registration.
Sunday June 6, 1999: Welcome and registration.
Monday June 7 , 1999: School starts
Friday June 19, 1999: School ends
Saturday June 20, 1999: Farewell breakfast, speakers' meeting
Scientific Committee:
Z. Agur (Israel), O. Arino (France, President), A. De Gaetano(Italy),
M.B. Donati(Italy), A. Gandolfi(Italy), M.Kimmel(USA), M. Mackey
(Canada), E. Sanchez (Spain), A. Swierniak(Poland), P. Ubezio(Italy).
Organizing Committee: O. Arino, A. De Gaetano (Managing Director), A.
Gandolfi, M. Kimmel.
MAIN TOPICS COVERED IN THE COURSES AND INVITED TALKS
Cell Biology.
Basic biological mechanisms of the cell cycle and of cancerous
transformation. Molecular mechanisms of cell cycle progression,
oncogenes, cyclins, growth factors, checkpoints in the cell cycle, cell
death and apoptosis, tumor growth and metastasis, angiogenesis and
cytoskeleton.
Haemopoiesis.
Dynamics of haemopoiesis in normal and disease conditions:
Structure of the human haemopoietic system, balance of production of
precursors of blood cells, regulation feedbacks and their mathematical
models, stability, oscillations and chaos in models of haemopoiesis,
applications to explanation of causes of blood disorders.
Structured Cell Populations.
Methodology of construction and analysis of models of cell populations
taking into account distribution of parameters of individual cells, in a
deterministic and a stochastic framework: The age-size structure
population density approach using partial differential equations,
construction of the semigroup of operators for a linear model, nonlinear
models and their qualitative behavior, examples of applications of
deterministic models, models structured by discrete variables, overview
of the expected branching process approach.
Cancer Therapy and Optimization.
Biochemical mechanisms and mathematical modeling of chemotherapy: types
of cytotoxic drugs and their mode of action, cell cycle specificity,
mechanisms of cell resistance, clinical protocols, mathematical models of
cell cycle with control, basics of optimal control theory, optimization
of chemotherapy protocols, Goldie and Coldman (clonal resistance) theory.
Cytometry and Parameter Estimation.
Methodology of measurements and analysis of joint distributions of
parameters of cells in large cell populations. Principles of flow
cytometry and related methods, use of flow cytometry to identify inner
features of cells (chromosomes, organelles), mathematical models of cell
population dynamics applied to interpreting flow-cytometric data, flow
cytometry as a diagnostic tools in cancer research. Basics of nonlinear
model parameter estimation, geometry in parameter space, variance of
estimates, sensitivity analysis, population estimates.
Stochastic Models in Cell Genetics.
Classical models of population genetics and modern methods based on
coalescence, applied to studying variation in germ and somatic cells in
culture and in organisms: the Fisher-Wright model of genetic drift with
mutation, ancestral processes including the coalescent and genealogies of
branching processes, principal models of mutations including the infinite
alleles and infinite sites models and the stepwise mutation model, models
of molecular evolution, dynamics of gene amplification and evolution of
repeat-DNA, neutral evolution and tests of neutrality, mathematical
models for diseases caused by dynamic mutations (expansions of triplet
repeats), heterogeneity of populations of cancer cells.
Tentative list of instructors and invited lecturers: Zvia Agur, Ovide
Arino, Jacques Belair, Edoardo Beretta, Alessandro Bertuzzi, Vincenzo
Capasso, Ranajit Chakraborty, Mark Chaplain, Andrea De Gaetano, Alberto
Gandolfi, Marek Kimmel, Michael Mackey, Joseph Mahaffy, Eva Sanchez,
Andrzej Swierniak, Ziad Taib, Simon Tavare, Paolo Ubezio, Glenn Webb.
Other speakers are being contacted.
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APPLICATION
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Compile and return the following Application Form by e-mail to
the address
biomath@tin.it
The application form may also be sent in paper (mail or fax) to
Andrea De Gaetano
CNR - Centro Fisiopatologia Shock
Laboratorio di Biomatematica
UCSC - L.go A. Gemelli, 8
00168 Roma, Italia
Fax: +39-06-3385446
Tel: +39-06-3385446 +39-06-30155389 +39-06-30154082
/********************************************************************\
* MATHEMATICS IN CELL PHYSIOLOGY AND PROLIFERATION *
* SUMMER SCHOOL, TERMOLI, ITALY, 6-19 JUNE 1999 *
* APPLICATION FORM *
\********************************************************************/
GENERAL
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Surname, First Name, Title
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Position
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Institution
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Address, Phone/Fax
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Email (attention! will be used as the primary means of communication)
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Main Area of Interest
[ ] Biologist/Medical or [ ] Mathematician/Engineer/Physicist
CONTRIBUTED PRESENTATION
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(Deadline if submitted: May 1, 1999. The application form may be sent
without compiling this section)
[ ] I am contributing a presentation
......................................................................
presentation title
......................................................................
presentation keywords (up to five)
I am sending by mail[ ] or as e-mail attachment[ ] up to five A4 pages of
presentation notes
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
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If asking financial support, please state briefly the motivation.
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