DEVELOPING THE
BIOMEDICAL MATHEMATICS
MAJOR AT FSU
De Witt Sumners
Department of Mathematics
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306
sumners@math.fsu.edu
THE BOOK OF NATURE IS
WRITTEN IN THE LANGUAGE
OF MATHEMATICS
GALILEO GALILEI (1600)
I HAVE DEPLY REGRETTED
THAT I DID NOT PROCEED FAR
ENOUGH AT LEAST TO
UNDERSTAND SOMETHING OF THE
GREAT LEADING PRINCIPLES
OF MATHEMATICS
CHARLES DARWIN (1860)
FSU BIOMEDICAL MATH
• Prepare undergrads for math or bio grad school,
med school; Hughes Fellow opportunities
• Interdisciplinary curriculum: mathematics,
statistics, computer science: biology, biochemistry
• 2 new biomed math courses:
Biocalculus Lab
Math Modeling in Biology
Biocalculus Lab
• Required of all bio majors
• Calculus I pre/co requisite
• Matlab based
• Integrates mathematics,
computation and biology
• Calculus I bio applications
• Exponential functions
• Linear regression
• Derivatives
• Related rates
• Integrals
• Differential equations
• Dynamical systems
EARLY USE OF MATHEMATICS
Galen (200):blood created by eating food, ebbs and
flows, goes from one side of heart to other via
invisible pores in the heart wall, arteries and veins
sealed and separate from each other
William Harvey (1615) proves that blood circulates:
by studying cadavers, heart pumps 27 lt/hr,
average human has 5.5 liters of blood
Mathematics in Biology and
Medicine
• DNA Enzymes: Chemotherapy
• Heart: Fibrillation
• Brain: Function and Malfunction
DNA Replication
Strand Passage
Topoisomerase
Strand Exchange
Recombinase
Enzyme Bound to DNA
Topological Enzymology
Mathematics: Deduce enzyme
binding and mechanism from
observed products
DNA Trefoil Knot
Mathematics in the Cell
•Mathematics--the ultimate microscope
•Compute protein structure and function
•Understand viruses
•Design chemotherapy drugs
Normal Heartbeat
Jim Keeener, U. Utah
Spiral Waves-Tachycardia
Jim Keener, U. Utah
Onset of Fibrillation
J. Keener, U. Utah
Mathematics in the Heart
•Arrythmias-chaos theory
•Signal conduction geometry--fractals
•Fiber structure--finite element methods
•Conduction waves--differential equations
•Visualization--computer graphics
The Cerebellum
Euclidean Flat Map
Monica Hurdal, Florida State U.
Hyperbolic Flat Map
Monica Hurdal, Florida State University
Spherical Map
Monica Hurdal, Florida State University
Mathematics in the Brain
•Normal brain in silico--computational
template for function and anatomy
•Clinical diagnosis and treatment--compare
subject brain to template brain
Mathematics in Biology and
Medicine
•Mathematics--the ultimate microscope
•Biological systems in silico--experiments
possible
•Organ templates--computational diagnosis and
treatment
Where can math help out?
• Too big--biosphere
• Too slow--macro
evolution
• Too remote in time--early
extinctions
• Too complex--brain, stock
market
Joel Cohen, Rockefeller University
• Too small--molecular
structure
• Too fast--photosynthesis
• Too remote in space--life
at the extremes
• Too dangerous or
unethical--epidemiology
of infectious agents, war
weapons and strategies
Thank You
•National Science Foundation
•National Institutes of Health
•Burroughs Wellcome Fund