Reaction Diffusion Systems in Biology

Lecture course in winter-semester 2012/2013 consisting of 15 lectures in total

Lecturer:

Dr. Sergio Alonso

(PTB Berlin)

Period:

October 22, 2012 - February 11, 2013

Day, time, and place

Mondays, 10 - 12h

in room EW 731 at TU Berlin.

Abstract

The focus of the course will be on the quantitative mathematical modelling of biological processes by reaction-diffusion systems both on the inter- and intracellular level. The lecture course will also provide an introduction to numerical methods for the solution of reaction-diffusion equations.
 
Various examples that will be considered range from physiology to wave dynamics and symmetry breaking inside cells:

• intracellular calcium dynamics and intracellular metabolic processes (e.g. glycolysis, phosphorylation of proteins),
• waves of electric activity in cardiac tissue (including their importance for cardiac arrhythmia as tachycardia and fibrillation),
• lipid domain formation at membranes at mesoscopic scales, and
• polarization processes prior to cell migration or morphogenesis.

More general aspects studied include the use of numerical bifurcation and stability analysis, the impact of spatio-temporal noise and heterogeneities, three-dimensional traveling waves, as well as control of pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems.

Announcement [1]

Program [2]