Presentation

The interaction among biology, ecology, medicine and mathematics has recently become an interdisciplinary science. The interest towards bio-mathematical modeling is undergoing a rapid growth since it is stimulated, on the one hand, by the requirement to create tight links among theoretical models, computational tools and experimental observations and, on the other hand, by the need to take into account phenomena occurring at different spatial and/or temporal scales.

Particular emphasis is today given to the study of emergent behaviors, which typically arise from the nonlinear interactions among the parts/individuals of a system, as well as to the description of self-organized structures, usually referred to as “patterns”.

The concept of “self-organization” turned out to be very useful for the modeling of a large variety of phenomena which take place at different scales: from microscopic (subcellular systems) to macroscopic (ecosystems).

M.M.SE.OR.2017 aims at bringing together students and researchers with different backgrounds (mathematicians, biologists, physicists, computer scientists and civil/environmental/biomedical engineers) who have a common interest in the investigation of such self-organization dynamics occurring at micro or macro scale in several contexts of Life Sciences.

M.M.SE.OR.2017 offers the twofold character of “International School” and “Research Workshop”.

During the “International School” stage, which will be held on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19, internationally-recognized speakers will explain the main mathematical methods/tools needed to characterize pattern dynamics and will illustrate some key results obtained in various fields of Life Sciences. Lecturers will focus on: neurosciences, cell migration, dynamics of interacting populations, biochemical processes, genetics, vegetation models for semi-arid environments. Particular attention will be paid not only to single-scale phenomena, but also to the possibility (and advantage) of dealing with multi-scale models.

During the “Research Workshop” stage, which will be held on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21, further invited speakers, PhD/postdoc students and young researchers will have the chance to present the results of their research activity, share information and interact with recognized experts. To this aim, both oral and poster sessions will be organized.