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Lecturer(s)
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Revilla Rimbach Tomas Augusto, Ph.D.
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Course content
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CONTENT OF LECTURES: 1. History of mathematical biology 2. The usefulness and limitations of mathematical models 3. The relationship between mathematical models and data Following the lectures, the course becomes a "journal club": Students will discuss scientific papers in order to identify the main questions, hypotheses, the mathematics that support or reject the hypotheses, and open questions. CONTENT OF PRACTICALS: A scientific article is selected for discussion one week in advance. Articles are selected from a list provided by the lecturer(s), or suggested by students. TYPE OF EXAMINATION: 1. short test to check reading of the scientific paper to be discussed. 2. a student presents the paper. The presentation is scored by the others. 3. student participation in the follow-up discussion is assesed by the lecturer.
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Monologic (reading, lecture, briefing), Dialogic (discussion, interview, brainstorming), Work with multi-media resources (texts, internet, IT technologies)
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Learning outcomes
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Critical assessment of mathematical applications in biology. From theoretical analyses to concrete applications in ecology, evolution, medicine, etc, with emphasis is on recent scientific findings.
Students will learn history of mathematical biology, methods, current trends and interplay between data and models.
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Prerequisites
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Basic understanding of calculus and statistics is recommended
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Student performance assessment, Combined exam, Interim evaluation
Paper reading, presentation of selected topics, participation in discussions.
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Recommended literature
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Allman, Elizabeth Spencer; Rhodes, John Anthony. Mathematical models in biology : an introduction. 1st ed. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-52586-1.
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Bacaër, Nicolas. A Short History of Mathematical Population Dynamics. Springer London, 2011.
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Hilborn, Ray; Mangel, Marc. The ecological detective : confronting models with data. Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-691-03496-6.
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Levins, R. The strategy of model building in population biology. American Scientist, 1966, 54, 421-431.
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Scudo, F. M. & Ziegler, J. R. The Golden Age of Theoretical Ecology, 1923-1940: a collection of works by V. Volterra, VA Kostitzin, AJ Lotka, and AN Kolmogoroff. Springer, 1978.
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