...where we talk body clocks, timing your meds and Ways and Means Subcommittees.
Dr. Olivia Walch is the CEO of Arcascope and an investigator at the University of Michigan, where she studies the mathematics of sleep and circadian rhythms through simulations and wearable devices.
She also has a penchant for boots in the winter.
Find out more about Olivia’s work at Arcascope: https://arcascope.com/
Buy her book Sleep Groove on bookshop.org
And for those of you wanting to learn more about the Geometry of Gerrymandering, check out the 2Scientists podcast episode with Dr. Thomas Weighill:https://2scientists.org/podcast/gerrymander
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The annual SMB meeting is THE international gathering for mathbio nerds, and this year was no exception. 673 conference attendees traveled from 34 countries around the world to meet up in Edmonton Canada. Join us to learn more from some of these researchers and work on social media in outbreaks, bibliometric analyses and the occasional elk sighting.
[00:41] Adam MacLean, University of Southern California, USA.
[05:08] Amy Hurford, Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
[09:45] Francisca Olajide, University of Ottawa, Canada.
[16:41] Gosia Weh, Moffitt Cancer Center, Florida, USA.
[22:16] Kira Pugh, Uppsala University, Sweden.
[25:35] Luis Sordo Vieira, University of Florida, USA.
[28:22] Mobolaji Williams, Howard University, Washington DC, USA.
[33:43] Paul Macklin, Indiana University, USA.
[41:01] Parmvir Bahia, Scientists Inc, Tampa, USA & Artha Science Media, London, UK.
[47:15] Thomas Woolley, Cardiff University in Wales, UK.
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… where we talk: Random openings in neurons, Gumbatine, and conferences in Canada.
Jay Newby graduated from the University of Utah Math Biology program in 2010. He was supervised by Paul Bressloff. His expertise includes applied stochastic processes, mathematical modeling, and machine learning tools for bio-image analysis.
Learn more about Jay’s work on his webpage: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~jnewby/
Find the weather app we talked about is here: earth.nullschool.net
And you can find out about SMB’s annual meeting here: https://2025.smb.org/
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… where we talk: Big pharma, In silico trials, and Sciencing for fun.
Marissa earned a PhD in Mathematics from The Ohio State University in 2018. She was then a postdoctoral research fellow at University of Michigan until 2021, when she joined Applied BioMath as a full time QSP modeler, then GSK in July 2024.
She does applied work with her mathematician parents’ full approval.
Follow Marissa’s progress on her LinkedIn page: linkedin.com/in/marissa-renardy.
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… where we talk: Hawks and Doves, social media and the PhD comics.
Dan Cooney is a mathematical biologist interested in modeling evolutionary dynamics across scales and exploring collective behavior in complex biological and social systems. He also enjoys reading, traveling, and “applied game theory” to baseball and chess.
Find out more about Dan’s work on his website: https://publish.illinois.edu/danielbcooney, or follow him on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/danielcooney1.bsky.social
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… where we talk changing cancer cells, awards and the Indian Institutes of Technology.
Mohit leads an interdisciplinary research team working on elucidating the dynamics of metastasis and drug resistance, through developing multi-scale mathematical models in close collaboration with experimental and clinical colleagues.He and his group do this work powered by many cups of chai.
Find out more about Mohit’s group and their work on the following website: https://be.iisc.ac.in/~mkjolly/.
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where we talk: the Akira Okobu prize, the Fokker-Planck equation, and the movement of bears.
Mark Lewis is a mathematical ecologist at the University of Victoria. He uses mathematical models to understand the environment and our human impacts. He tries to maintain that work life balance by spending that hard-earned free time curling.
Find out more about Mark’s groups’ work on the following website: https://lewisresearchlab.org/
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…where we talk: society nominations, prion proteins and murderbots.
Professor Suzanne Sindi is a Mathematical Biologist studying protein aggregation, and blood coagulation through modeling and data science. She is passionate about promoting inclusion in math and STEM, and was inspired to go into science by dinosaur-related Sci-Fi.
Find out more about Suzanne’s work on her website: https://www.sindilab.com/
If you feel inspired to step up, you can learn more about nominations for SMB positions by emailing: nominations@smb.org
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…where we talk about a paper studying: who and when we should vaccinate.
After completing a DPhil in Statistics from the University of Oxford, focussing in epidemiology and phylogenetics, Matt now works as a data scientist for Italian football club Como 1907.Matt was awarded the Lee A. Segel Prize for Best Student Paper published in The Bulletin of Mathematical Biology: Asymptotic Analysis of Optimal Vaccination Policies.Join us to learn more about how this paper can help health professionals better assess the best way to distribute vaccines.
Find out more about Matt and his work on Linkedin:linkedin.com/in/matthew-penn-732551232/
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…where we talk parasites, motorbikes, and digital twins.
Professor Reinhard Laubenbacher is: the Director of Laboratory for Systems Medicine at the University of Florida, an AAAS fellow (American Association for the Advancement of Science), and a scientist interested in using math to understand human disease and more specifically fungal infections in the lungs.When not at work, Reinhard and his wife enjoy motorbiking everywhere from the swamps of Florida, to the plains of Patagonia.
Find out more about Reinhard’s work on the following websites: https://systemsmedicine.pulmonary.medicine.ufl.edu/https://systemsmedicine.pulmonary.medicine.ufl.edu/profile/laubenbacher-reinhard/
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…where we talk about infectious diseases, mentorship and mathematical tattoos.
Professor Stacey Smith? is an infectious disease modeler who appreciates the real world impacts that math biology can have. She leads educational and mentorship programming at the SMB and apparently never says no to anything SMB related. We caught Stacey at SMB 2024 in South Korea to talk about her research, life-changing transitions, and being a Whovian.
Check out Stacey’s website for science, articles and Sci-Fi nerdiness: mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/
And for those curious about the tattoo, read more about the Mandlebrot set:wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set
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…where we talk all things math bio at the annual meeting.
Science isn’t complete until it’s communicated, and what better place to do this than a scientific conference. This year, more than a thousand scientists were lucky enough to attend the SMB meeting in Seoul in Korea. This special episode gives a brief preview of some of the exciting research being done, as well as the people doing the work. Join us to hear from:
Fred Adler - Professor at the University of Utah, Utah, USKit Gallagher - Doctoral student at the University of Oxford, US & Moffitt Cancer Center, Florida, USMegan Greischer - Assistant Professor at Cornell University, New York, USJona Kayser - Group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Medicine, Erlangen, GermanyBo-Moon Kim - Doctoral student at Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanBreanne Sparta - Postdoctoral Researcher at UCLA, Los Angeles, USRossana Vermiglio - Full professor at the University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
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…where we talk immune systems, zombies and being presidential.
Jane Heffernan is a disease modeller. In her own words “My research aims to understand immunity development and maintenance in people, and in populations, after infection or vaccination. When I am not working, you can find me at soccer pitches or hockey arenas.”
Jane’s current research interests lie within mathematical immunology and the modelling of waning and boosting immunity. Her lab is interested in understanding characteristics of pathogens, individual hosts, and populations that allow for disease spread and to determine public health and medical intervention strategies that will be needed to contain or eradicate infectious disease
Learn more about Jane on her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Heffernan
And the link to the Mathematical Modeling of Zombies: https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2014/10/30/york-profs-investigate-the-mathematics-of-the-undead/
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…where we talk chemo brain, drug therapies, and a big meeting in Korea
Yangjin Kim is a bio-mathematician developing and analyzing various types of mathematical models for cancer research. I am very interested in creating a multi-scale hybrid mathematical model and developing anti-cancer strategies.
Yangjin’s current research interests lie within:
Look up Yangjin’s website to find out more about his background and work:https://sites.google.com/view/yangjinkim
Learn about the SMB’s annual meeting here: https://smb2024.org/
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…where we talk about radiation patterns, and life in grad school
Rebecca Bekker did her BS in Pure & Applied Maths, and an MS in Applied Maths at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. In 2019 she moved to the US to pursue a PhD in Integrated Mathematical Oncology in the joint Moffitt / USF program.Outside of work she enjoys viewing and making art (including painting and linocut printmaking), and being in nature
Rebecca’s current research interests lie within:Mathematical OncologyRadiation therapy effects on immune cells
Follow Rebecca on twitter to learn more about her and her research:https://twitter.com/rebecca_bekker
Learn about the SMB’s travel awards here: https://www.smb.org/annual-meeting-travel-awards/
Oh, and if you’re desperate to hear the track we mention in the show:Kurt Darren - Kaptein (Span Die Seile)
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…where we talk about the biomechanics of brain fluids, and going on sabbatical
In his own words, Siv Sivaloganathan is:“a mathematician working on problems in the biomedical sciences. Apart from research and contemplating the meaning of life - life is punctuated by periods of exercise and eating (often jogging towards good cuisine!), always in search of the perfect balance between exercise and dessert!”
His current research interests lie within:BiomechanicsMathematical modeling of hydrocephalusMathematical Oncology
Find out more about Siv on his website:https://uwaterloo.ca/applied-mathematics/sivabal-sivaloganathanLearn about the SMB’s fellows here: https://smb.org/Society-for-Mathematical-Biology-Fellows
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…where we talk about studying flow through pipes, and creating an SMB subgroup
In his own words, Michael Watson is:“an applied mathematician who uses mathematical models to study disease, development and physiology at the cell and tissue-scale.” Outside science, Mike is happiest when listening to music, catching up on “the fitba”, and spending time with family.
His current research focus is the growth and formation of atherosclerotic plaques which block arteries.
Find out more about Mike on his website:https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-michael-watsonfollow him on Twitter: @DrMikeGWatsonLearn about the SMB’s Cardiovascular Modeling subgroup: https://www.smb.org/Cardiovascular-Modeling
And read the paper we discussed during the episode, on atherosclerotic plaque macrophages: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11538-023-01193-w
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…where we talk about infectious diseases, human behavior and outreach in Africa
In her own words, Folashade Agusto is:“a mathematician acting like a biologist growing hot peppers and vegetables to cover up”.
Her research focuses on designing models to understand emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and ways to mitigate their risks to our health.
Find out more about Fola, particularly her outreach, on her website:https://sites.google.com/site/agustofb/outreach-and-workshops
and follow her on Twitter: @FolaAgusto.
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…where we talk about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in mathematical Biology
Dr. Stacey Finley is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Her research is in mathematical oncology - she builds models to study biochemical networks inside cells and interactions between cells.
Prof. Zhilan Feng joined the Math Dept at Purdue University in 1996 and is currently a Program Director in the Math Biology program at NSF. She was elected a Fellow of the AMS in 2021. Zhilan enjoyed playing volleyball both in college and recreationally at Purdue.
We hear from them about their research, and get some tips for other budding math biologists.
As co-chairs of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee they are driving change as part of SMB’s ongoing commitment to cultivating an inclusive and equitable society. Tune in to learn how!
Find out more about Stacey and Zhilan on Wikipedia:wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacey_Finleywikipedia.org/wiki/Zhilan_Feng
and follow Stacey on Twitter: @USCSysBio_Lab.
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…where we talk about a paper, studying: how cancer drugs work on cells in a layer vs. cells in a ball
In her own words, Sara Hamis is:a mathematician who studies cancer. “My research focuses on understanding how the behavior of individual cells affects tumours as a whole. I am fuelled by grueling workouts, lady boss anthems, and terrible math puns.”
Sara was awarded the Lee A Segel Prize for the Best Paper published in The Bulletin of Mathematical Biology:Targeting Cellular DNA Damage Responses in Cancer: An In Vitro-Calibrated Agent-Based Model Simulating Monolayer and Spheroid Treatment Responses to ATR-Inhibiting Drugs.
Join us to learn more about the work in this paper describing models of DNA-damaging drug effects on cancer cells in a flat layer in a dish, and cancer cells in a sphere.
Follow Sara on Twitter: @hamiscalculated
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