Biology in Numbers

These days you can’t throw a stone without hitting some form of AI. Whether it’s to control your home sound system, or looking for a novel way to treat disease, we are still in the learning stages of how best to use these technologies.
So Biology in Numbers welcomes back Reinhard Laubenbacher, current SMB president, who talks about some uses in the field, its relevance in education, and why math biologists and the larger scientific community need to get ahead of AI to ensure it is incorporated into research in a meaningful way.
Here’s a useful and pretty primer for anyone completely new to AI: from the BBC.
For those interested in that foundational paper by McCulloch and Pitts here’s the link: A logical calculus of the ideas immanent in nervous activity.
If you’d like to leave any suggestions for Reinhard on the subject, you can reach him at: Reinhard.Laubenbacher[at]medicine.ufl.edu
Find out more about SMB on:
The website: smb.org
Bluesky: @smbmathbiology.bsky.social
Twitter: @smb_mathbiology
Facebook: @smb.org
Linkedin: @smb_mathbiology
The Bulletin of Mathematical Biology

...where we talk body clocks, timing your meds and Ways and Means Subcommittees.
Dr. Olivia Walch is the CEO of Arcascope and an investigator at the University of Michigan, where she studies the mathematics of sleep and circadian rhythms through simulations and wearable devices.
She also has a penchant for boots in the winter.
Find out more about Olivia’s work at Arcascope: https://arcascope.com/
Buy her book Sleep Groove on bookshop.org
And for those of you wanting to learn more about the Geometry of Gerrymandering, check out the 2Scientists podcast episode with Dr. Thomas Weighill:https://2scientists.org/podcast/gerrymander
Find out more about SMB on:
The website: smb.org
Bluesky: @smbmathbiology.bsky.social
Twitter: @smb_mathbiology
Facebook: @smb.org
Linkedin: @smb_mathbiology
The Bulletin of Mathematical Biology

…where we talk conference things in Canada.

The annual SMB meeting is THE international gathering for mathbio nerds, and this year was no exception. 673 conference attendees traveled from 34 countries around the world to meet up in Edmonton, Canada. Join us to learn more from some of these researchers and work on social media in outbreaks, bibliometric analyses and the occasional elk sighting.
[00:41] Adam MacLean, University of Southern California, USA.
[05:08] Amy Hurford, Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
[09:45] Francisca Olajide, University of Ottawa, Canada.
[16:41] Gosia Weh, Moffitt Cancer Center, Florida, USA.
[22:16] Kira Pugh, Uppsala University, Sweden.
[25:35] Luis Sordo Vieira, University of Florida, USA.
[28:22] Mobolaji Williams, Howard University, Washington DC, USA.
[33:43] Paul Macklin, Indiana University, USA.
[41:01] Parmvir Bahia, Scientists Inc, Tampa, USA & Artha Science Media, London, UK.
[47:15] Thomas Woolley, Cardiff University in Wales, UK.
Find out more about SMB on:
The website: smb.org
Bluesky: @smbmathbiology.bsky.social
Twitter: @smb_mathbiology
Facebook: @smb.org
Linkedin: @smb_mathbiology
The Bulletin of Mathematical Biology

… where we talk: Random openings in neurons, Gumbatine, and conferences in Canada.
Jay Newby graduated from the University of Utah Math Biology program in 2010. He was supervised by Paul Bressloff. His expertise includes applied stochastic processes, mathematical modeling, and machine learning tools for bio-image analysis.
Learn more about Jay’s work on his webpage: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~jnewby/
Find the weather app we talked about is here: earth.nullschool.net
And you can find out about SMB’s annual meeting here: https://2025.smb.org/
Find out more about SMB on:
The website: smb.org
Bluesky: @smbmathbiology.bsky.social
Twitter: @smb_mathbiology
Facebook: @smb.org
Linkedin: @smb_mathbiology
The Bulletin of Mathematical Biology

… where we talk: Big pharma, In silico trials, and Sciencing for fun.
Marissa earned a PhD in Mathematics from The Ohio State University in 2018. She was then a postdoctoral research fellow at University of Michigan until 2021, when she joined Applied BioMath as a full time QSP modeler, then GSK in July 2024.
She does applied work with her mathematician parents’ full approval.
Follow Marissa’s progress on her LinkedIn page: linkedin.com/in/marissa-renardy.
Find out more about SMB on:
The website: smb.org
Bluesky: @smbmathbiology.bsky.social
Twitter: @smb_mathbiology
Facebook: @smb.org
Linkedin: @smb_mathbiology
The Bulletin of Mathematical Biology