BIOMATH 2023YoMB 2018

Biomath 2023 School for Young Scientists

School Coordinator: Maya Mincheva

The school comprises plenary lectures and sessions for contributed talks. The lectures specifically dedicated to the school are of more introductory nature giving foundations and insight into the respective topic rather then focusing on new results. A central event of the school is the Hot Topics Workshop. Several scholars act as panelists presenting "hot areas" and related open problems. All PhD students and early career researchers participating in the conference are considered members of the school. The PhD presentations (oral or posters) will be assessed by a jury.

Meeting with the keynote and invited speakers 18 June 2023, 18:00 – 20:30
Young scientists, who intend to be part of the school, need to attend.

Dedicated SYS Lectures

19 June 2023, 08:00 – 08:50
Title: Biodynamics of reaction networks
Presenter: Maya Mincheva
Understanding the properties of reaction networks is related to the proper functioning of many signal transduction pathways. Mathematical models are usually used to study the versatile dynamic properties of reaction networks. We will review some well-established results related to models of reaction networks, including multistationarity, bistability and oscillations. Information on current research problems that involve mathematical models of reaction networks will also be presented.

20 June 2023, 18:00 – 19:00
Title: How to get the most out of a model: model calibration and optimization
Presenter: Ami Radunskaya
When developing and simulating a mathematical model, we often need to use tools from optimization to fit parameter models to data, or to determine optimal scenarios. In this lecture we will explore the mathematical techniques involved in this process in the context of a model consisting of a system of differential equations. We will first consider parameter identifiability: when are parameter values actually obtainable from a particular set of data? We then address the issue of uncertainty: how does variability in our data impact predictions, and how can we quantify this impact? Once we have some confidence in the mathematical model, how can we ``tune” the model to produce specific results? In answering these questions, we will discuss two types of optimization: traditional algorithms and heuristic algorithms, including Markov Chain Monte Carlo approaches.
References:
Soetaert, K. ., & Petzoldt, T. (2010). Inverse Modelling, Sensitivity and Monte Carlo Analysis in R Using Package FME. Journal of Statistical Software, 33(3), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v033.i03
Ljung L. System identification: theory for the user. Prentice Hall PTR; 1999

Certificates

Certificates for successful completion of the School for Young Scientist (SYS) are issued to participants who have made a presentation (talk or poster) and attended all conference activities including the dedicated SYS lectures and the Hot Topics workshop. PhD students are further expected to have taken part in the PhD Presentations Competition.

Articles related to the organisation of the School for Young Scientists:

Biomathematical Conferences and Schools for Young Scientists at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Integrating learning and research at the "Biomath" conference series

More about the SYS organization:

The plenary and keynote lecturers are asked to present their lectures in a suitable form for the broad audience and the SYS participants are asked to attend these lectures and are encouraged to ask questions. Also, the presentations by the SYS participants are assessed both by their peers and a jury amongst the keynote lecturers and some of the established scholars and are awarded respectively. Accordingly, the members of the jury are asked to listen to students presentations. In addition, several of the established scholars known to have PhD students are asked to present "hot topics & open problems" and act as moderators of the discussions during this presentation. In this way the School for young scientists is fully integrated with the conference in the sense that both young scientists and many of the established scholars participate in the learning process. At an earliest occation the participating young scientists are gathered at a meeting and are instructed about the specific arrangement of the conference.

The integration of the SYS and the scientific conference enables certain benefits such as:
-- the distance between established lecturers and students diminishes or even vanishes;
-- students actively participate in the presentations as posing questions after lectures give them more scores; there is little possibility for the students to "sleep" during lectures (as may happen with traditional tutorial courses);
-- established scholars have the opportunity to know good students and students have the opportunity to make contacts with prestigeuos professors;
--during the open tasks sessions students learn about important biomathematical problems;
-- students recieve useful practical information related to their career;
-- time is saved: usually at least half a day is spend on tutorial lectures, that time is now saved.