The investigator and her colleagues collaborate in a group project at the Center for BioDynamics (CBD) to provide interdisciplinary education and training for graduate students and postdoctoral-level investigators in the context of a vigorous interdisciplinary research program that focuses on areas of mutual interest in mathematics (especially dynamical systems), biology, and engineering. Disciplines include mathematics, biomedical engineering, aerospace/mechanical engineering, biology, psychology, and physics. Training extends beyond the usual classroom activities by engaging participants in a variety of research projects as well. One of the major topics is dynamics of the nervous system. The projects, which involve experiments, modeling, and analysis, all deal with the variety of rhythms in the nervous system and the potential functions of these rhythms in key cognitive states and processes such as attention, awareness, learning, and recall. A second major topic is dynamics of gene expression. Progress in genomic research is leading to maps of the building blocks of biology and fueling the study of gene regulation, where proteins often regulate their own production or that of other proteins in a complex web of interactions. CBD projects focus on using techniques from nonlinear dynamics, statistical physics, control theory, and molecular biology to model, design, and construct synthetic gene regulatory networks, and to probe naturally occurring gene regulatory networks. The third major topic is the dynamics of patterns and waves. Training activities include two weekly working seminars, extra journal clubs and reading groups, seminars to educate the CBD members in the research going on within the Center, and a CBD-initiated team-taught course. The Center for BioDynamics (CBD) helps to advance understanding of difficult interdisciplinary problems at the intersection of mathematics, biology, and engineering, and it trains mathematicians, scientists, and engineers for the 21st century workforce. It does this by combining traditional classroom education with significant engagement of students and postdocs in interdisciplinary teams working on current problems. The disciplines involved are mathematics, biomedical engineering, aerospace/mechanical engineering, biology, psychology, and physics. One of the major topics is dynamics of the nervous system. The projects in this topic seek to shed light on the origin of the electrical activity in the brain, and how the brain uses this activity to process sensory information, to think, and to regulate movement. A second major topic is dynamics of gene expression. The web of interactions among the proteins that are produced by genes is complex; the projects associated with this topic involve the design and construction of artificial gene regulatory networks, and techniques to better understand naturally occurring gene regulatory networks. The third major topic is the dynamics of patterns and waves, occuring in a variety of applications. Training activities include two weekly working seminars, regular sessions to read scientific journals, seminars to educate the CBD members in the research going on within the Center, and a CBD-initiated team-taught course. The project is supported by the Computational Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Computational Neuroscience, and Biological Databases and Informatics programs and by the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities.
