This award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S. New Zealand seminar on applications of mathematics to biomedical problems that will be held in New Zealand. The co-organizers are Professor Ami Radunskaya in the Mathematics Department at Pomona College in Claremont, California and Thomas Rades at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. It will also include participants from Europe. Medical researchers are often unaware of the power of current mathematical models, or are suspicious of their validity. This meeting will bring together mathematicians and medical researchers in order to open a dialogue which will result in the exchange of information, techniques and methodology that could lead to solutions of problems motivated by medical issues. The participants have expertise in such areas as mathematical modeling of biological systems, the analysis and simulation of these models, optimal control theory, experimental immunology and pharmacology. The meeting will enrich the knowledge of mathematical modeling by applying methods from dynamical systems, simulation and control theory to problems in immunotherapy, antiangiogenesis and treatment delivery methods. This seminar will immediately follow a joint meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the New Zealand Society of Mathematics that will take place in mid December, 2007 in Wellington, New Zealand.
The co-organizers have complementary scientific expertise in the field. This enables them to evaluate and attract the best researchers to participate in the meetings. It is the organizers' intent to publish the proceedings of the meeting in a special issue of Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering. In addition, the participants will develop a web site which will include the seminar presentations as well as items of importance following the meeting. Participants also plan to develop collaborative research proposals for submission to funding agencies. Seminar organizers have made a special effort to involve graduate students who will spend some additional time gaining additional experience in the local university laboratories in Wellington.
