Abstract. A conference on PDEs and Dynamical systems in biology will take place on September 30 - October 4, 2013 at Department of Mathematics, Bar Ilan University, Israel. The main purpose of the conference is to attract researchers working on PDEs and Dynamical Systems to problems in biology. Modeling and mathematical analysis in the areas of Cell Biology, Collective Motion, Biomedical problems and Population Biology will be emphasized in the talks at this conference. The talks will also identify biological problems where PDEs and Dynamical systems could provide a novel insight.
A significant presence of young scientists is planned. The primary focus will be the facilitation of interactions between young and senior researchers working in the exciting and rapidly developing field of mathematical biology. The conference organizers plan to invite about 25 participants: 10-12 plenary speakers and 13-15 young researchers (graduate students, postdocs and junior faculty). In addition, several minisymposia will be organized.
" supported by this award was to attract researchers working on PDEs and Dynamical Systems to problems in biology. The conference met its primary goal of highlighting modeling and mathematical analysis in the areas of Cell Biology, Collective Motion, Biomedical problems, and Population Biology while forming new connections between junior (graduate students, postdocs and junior faculty) and senior researchers from the United States, Europe, and Israel. As a result of the talks, biological problems where PDEs and Dynamical systems could provide a novel insight were identified. A significant presence of young scientists was achieved and talks were made accessible, which facilitated numerous interactions between young and senior researchers working in the exciting and rapidly developing field of mathematical biology. Thirteen participants were supported by this award, five of which were invited speakers and the rest were junior participants. The priority in funding was given to junior participants while senior speakers used their own funds to complement partial support from the NSF grant. The PI and co-PI have not received any support for this award. Intellectual Merit. The conference "PDEs and Dynamical Systems in Biology" took place at the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center on the campus of Bar-Ilan University. With over 40 participants plus many other local contributors, the conference was able to bring together researchers (junior and senior) from all over the world to advance the field of mathematical biology. The organizing committee consisting of Gil Ariel (Chair, Bar-Ilan University), Leonid Berlyand (Penn State University), Yoram Louzoun (Bar-Ilan University), and Vered Rom-Keder (Weizmann Institute) ensured that all participants had time for useful discussions as well as presenting their recent results. The scientific committee consisting of Gil Ariel (Bar-Ilan University), Leonid Berlyand (Chair, Penn State University), Suncica Canic (University of Houston), Avner Friedman (Ohio State University), and Yoram Louzoun (Bar-Ilan University) brought together an impressive collection of the leading experts in mathematical biology to provide participants with the frontier of research in this fascinating subject. Methods for dissemination of results included 14 invited talks, 4 contributed talks, and 15 talks by junior researchers as well as a dedicated two hour poster session with discussion. The schedule consisted of the first and last day of the conference filled with invited junior and senior researchers from the United States and Europe, while the middle two days of the conference consisted of primarily junior and senior local speakers from Israel. Almost all of the invited speakers, who are among the world leaders in mathematical biology, accepted the invitation and presented a lecture at the conference highlighting their most recent works. Broader Impact The last two decades have seen rapid progress in mathematical biology. While the 20th century witnessed tremendous achievements in mathematics originating from physics, in the 21st century biology has become a great source of novel mathematical problems. By bringing leading experts in mathematical biology as well as promising junior researchers to Israel, the conference was able to show the participants the power of current PDE and Dynamical systems methods as well as plant seeds for future collaboration. In addition, a large portion of the conference was dedicated to local Israeli presenters as well as underrepresented groups such as females (3 invited talks, 2 contributed talks, 3 junior talks).
