This monograph presents a general mathematical theory for biological growth. It provides both a conceptual and a technical foundation for the understanding and analysis of problems arising in biology and physiology. The theory and methods are illustrated on a wide range of examples and applications. A process of extreme complexity, growth plays a fundamental role in many biological processes and is considered to be the hallmark of life itself. Its description has been one of the fundamental problems of life sciences, but until recently, it has not attracted much attention from mathematicians, physicists, and engineers. The author herein presents the first major technical monograph on the problem of growth since D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s 1917 book On Growth and Form. The emphasis of the book is on the proper mathematical formulation of growth kinematics and mechanics. Accordingly, the discussion proceeds in order of complexity and the book is divided into five parts. First, a general introduction on the problem of growth from a historical perspective is given. Then, basic concepts are introduced within the context of growth in filamentary structures. These ideas are then generalized to surfaces and membranes and eventually to the general case of volumetric growth. The book concludes with a discussion of open problems and outstanding challenges. Thoughtfully written and richly illustrated to be accessible to readers of varying interests and background, the text will appeal to life scientists, biophysicists, biomedical engineers, and applied mathematicians alike.

Growth plays a fundamental role in many biological processes and is considered to be the hallmark of life itself. It is a process of extreme complexity and its description has been one of the fundamental problems of life sciences. However, until recently, it has not attracted much attention from mathematicians, physicists, and mechanicians. The goal of this monograph is to present the state of knowledge in the mechanics of growth, to provide a rigorous foundation and, to offer a set of mathematical tools for the analysis of specific problems arising in biology accessible to mathematicians, physicists, and biologists. Simple examples, applications and building discussions are included. The emphasis of the book is on the kinematics and mechanics of growth. Accordingly, the three first parts of the book are: Growth of curves and lamentary structure, Growth of surfaces, membranes, and shells, and Volumetric growth.

Exploring Mathematical Modeling in Biology through Case Studies and Experimental Activities provides supporting materials for courses taken by students majoring in mathematics, computer science or in the life sciences. The book's cases and lab exercises focus on hypothesis testing and model development in the context of real data. The supporting mathematical, coding and biological background permit readers to explore a problem, understand assumptions, and the meaning of their results. The experiential components provide hands-on learning both in the lab and on the computer. As a beginning text in modeling, readers will learn to value the approach and apply competencies in other settings. Included case studies focus on building a model to solve a particular biological problem from concept and translation into a mathematical form, to validating the parameters, testing the quality of the model and finally interpreting the outcome in biological terms. The book also shows how particular mathematical approaches are adapted to a variety of problems at multiple biological scales. Finally, the labs bring the biological problems and the practical issues of collecting data to actually test the model and/or adapting the mathematics to the data that can be collected. - Presents a single volume on mathematics and biological examples, with data and wet lab experiences suitable for non-experts - Contains three real-world biological case studies and one wet lab for application of the mathematical models - Includes R code templates throughout the text, which are also available through an online repository, along with the necessary data files to complete all projects and labs

These Proceedings have been assembled from papers presented at the Conference on Models of Biological Growth and Spread, held at the German Cancer Research Centre Heidelberg and at the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the University of Heidelberg, July 16-21, 1979. The main theme of the conference was the mathematical representation of biolog ical populations with an underlying spatial structure. An important feature of such populations is that they and/or their individual com ponents may interact with each other. Such interactions may be due to external disturbances, internal regulatory factors or a combination of both. Many biological phenomena and processes including embryogenesis, cell growth, chemotaxis, cell adhesion, carcinogenesis, and the spread of an epidemic or of an advantageous gene can be studied in this con text. Thus, problems of particular importance in medicine (human and veterinary), agriculture, ecology, etc. may be taken into consideration and a deeper insight gained by utilizing (more) realistic mathematical models. Since the intrinsic biological mechanisms may differ considerably from each other, a great variety of mathematical approaches, theories and techniques is required. The aims of the conference were (i) To provide an overview of the most important biological aspects. (ii) To survey and analyse possible stochastic and deterministic approaches. (iii) To encourage new research by bringing together mathematicians interested in problems of a biological nature and scientists actively engaged in developing mathematical models in biology.

Mathematical Models in Biology is an introductory book for readers interested in biological applications of mathematics and modeling in biology. A favorite in the mathematical biology community, it shows how relatively simple mathematics can be applied to a variety of models to draw interesting conclusions. Connections are made between diverse biological examples linked by common mathematical themes. A variety of discrete and continuous ordinary and partial differential equation models are explored. Although great advances have taken place in many of the topics covered, the simple lessons contained in this book are still important and informative. Audience: the book does not assume too much background knowledge--essentially some calculus and high-school algebra. It was originally written with third- and fourth-year undergraduate mathematical-biology majors in mind; however, it was picked up by beginning graduate students as well as researchers in math (and some in biology) who wanted to learn about this field.

Volume II of this two-volume, interdisciplinary work is a unified presentation of a broad range of state-of-the-art topics in the rapidly growing field of mathematical modeling in the biological sciences. Highlighted throughout are mathematical and computational apporaches to examine central problems in the life sciences, ranging from the organization principles of individual cells to the dynamics of large populations. The chapters are thematically organized into the following main areas: epidemiology, evolution and ecology, immunology, neural systems and the brain, and innovative mathematical methods and education. The work will be an excellent reference text for a broad audience of researchers, practitioners, and advanced students in this rapidly growing field at the intersection of applied mathematics, experimental biology and medicine, computational biology, biochemistry, computer science, and physics.

The mechanics of biological tissues is a multidisciplinary and rapidly expanding area of research. This book points to important directions combining mechanical sciences with the new developments in biology. It delivers articles on mechanics of tissues at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels.