Figuring Out Life:
NUS - Karolinska Joint Symposium on Application of Mathematics in Biomedicine
(28 - 29 Nov 2005)

• Martti Tammi (National University of Singapore and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)

• Alan Christoffels (Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Singapore)
• Carsten Daub (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
• Amilcar Flores (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
• Liam Good (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
• Prasanna Kolatkar (Genome Institute of Singapore)
• Vladimir A. Kuznetsov (Genome Institute of Singapore)
• Boon-Chuan Low (National University of Singapore)
• Piergiorgio Percipalle (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
• Michael Raghunath (National University of Singapore)
• Sara Sandin (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
• David Siegmund (Stanford University and National University of Singapore)
• Tin-Wee Tan (National University of Singapore)
• Chandra Verma (Bioinformatics Institute of Singapore)
• Lim-Soon Wong (National University of Singapore)

This symposium aims to explore the twilight zone between mathematics and biology. The true complexity of biological organisms is only beginning to unfold; in living systems, a collection of properties emerges at each level of organization and in order to cope with the diversity at every scale of spatial and temporal organization, fundamental conceptual advances and interdisciplinary collaborations are inevitable. A thousand or so complete genome sequences are available and we are left with incredible puzzles to solve. Domain expertise is essential, but a powerful approach is to combine reductionist approaches with a holistic understanding. This is where mathematics and computational biology are an integral part of biological research.

Throughout the history mathematics has brought powerful insight in understanding the workings of biological systems. Perhaps the most well known example is the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in population genetics, which Hardy and Weinberg devised back in 1908. A more recent example is Kimura’s diffusion equation for gene frequencies in 1994. Mathematics has left many more deep footprints in biological research than is generally realized. For example, Markov models (Markov, 1906) are ubiquitously used in the post-genomics era of today and the list can be made long: age structure of stable populations (Euler, 1760), analysis of variance (Fisher, 1950), dynamics of interacting species (Lotka, 1925; Volterra, 1931), traveling waves in genetics (Fisher, 1937; Kolmogorov et al. 1937), distribution of bacterial mutation rates (Luria and Delbruck, 1943), morphogenesis (Turing, 1952), graph theory and genetic structure (Benzer, 1959), formula for haplotype frequencies (Ewens, 1972) and population coalescence (Kingman, 1982). The list is a mere example and can be made much longer. This interdisciplinary workshop represents a unique opportunity to further explore the twilight zone between mathematics and biology in the post-genomics era. Let’s keep the list growing even longer!

• IMS Auditorium
  Institute for Mathematical Sciences, NUS
  3 Prince George's Park
  Singapore 118402
• Getting to IMS

 

Day 1 - Monday, 28 Nov 2005
09:00am - 09:50am	Registration
09:50am - 10:00am	Welcome and Opening Remarks Louis Chen, Institute for Mathematical Sciences, NUS Martti Tammi, National University of Singapore and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
10:00am - 10:45am	Enhancing the recognition of gene function transfer from model organisms by considering different levels of conservation of co-regulation Carsten Daub, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
10:45am - 11:15am	--- Coffee Break ---
11:15am - 12:00nn	Understanding function using in silico and experimental structural information Prasanna Kolatkar, Genome Institute of Singapore
12:00nn - 12:45pm	Eukaryotic gene expression: the function of actin and actin-associated proteins in transcription Piergiorgio Percipalle, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
12:45pm - 02:45pm	--- Lunch break ---
02:45pm - 03:30pm	Protein function prediction from protein interactions Lim Soon Wong, National University of Singapore
03:30pm - 04:15pm	Bioinformatics workflow integration for biomanufacturing and biosurveillance Tin-Wee Tan, National University of Singapore
04:15pm - 04:45pm	--- Coffee Break ---
04:45pm - 05:30pm	Cryo-electron tomography of individual protein molecules Sara Sandin, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
	End of Day 1

 

Day 2 - Tuesday, 29 Nov 2005
09:00am - 09:45am	Are complex methods helpful in mapping complex traits (Keynote lecture) David Siegmund, Stanford University and National University of Singapore
09:45am - 10:30am	Size-dependent Pareto-like distributions in genomics, proteomics and molecular evolution Vladimir A. Kuznetsov, Genome Institute of Singapore
10:30am - 11:00am	--- Coffee Break ---
11:00am - 11:45am	Comparative genomics of two cyprinid species Alan Christoffels, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Singapore
11:45am - 12:30pm	Solvation in proteins: insights from atomistic simulations Chandra Verma, Bioinformatics Institute of Singapore
12:30pm - 02:30pm	--- Lunch break ---
02:30pm - 03:15pm	Inhibition of bacterial genes using expressed RNA and cell-permeable antisense agents Liam Good, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
03:15pm - 04:00pm	Filling in the GAPs for cell dynamics control Boon-Chuan Low, National University of Singapore
04:00pm - 04:30pm	--- Coffee Break ---
04:30pm - 05:15pm	Transcriptional targets of STAST5b in liver Amilcar Flores, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
05:15pm - 05:30pm	Closing Remarks
	End of Symposium

 

Registration

• Online pre-registration is now closed. However, you may register as a walk-in participant on the day of the symposium. All are welcome.

• General enquiries: Secretary (ims@nus.edu.sg)