Abstract: At the scale of a single cell, chemical processes are driven by a complex interplay of spatial transport and stochasticity. Capturing these dynamics requires mathematical models that bridge the microscopic and macroscopic worlds. In this talk, I will introduce the mesoscopic particle methods we use to investigate cellular processes, which we have applied to problems in cellular signaling and antibody-antigen interactions. I will explore several aspects of our recent research, which has included the development of accurate and efficient numerical simulation methods, the derivation and analysis of rigorous coarse-grained (PDE) limits, and applications to immune signaling. By surveying these different areas, this talk will offer a broad introduction to the mathematical and computational challenges of modeling cellular biology at the single cell scale.
Abstract: The discrete Fourier transform matrix, and submatrices of it, appear in a wide variety of applications. While the Fourier matrix itself is a scaled unitary matrix, its submatrices can be exponentially ill-conditioned.
In this talk, we discuss applications, prior work, and we provide tight estimates for just how ill-conditioned such matrices can be.
Bio: Dr. Isaacson received his Bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Brown University, and his Ph.D. in Mathematics from NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, working under the direction of Charles Peskin. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the Biomathematics Research Group at the University of Utah, he joined the faculty at Boston University in 2008, where he is also affiliated with the Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and the Hariri Institute for Computing.
Dr. Isaacson’s research sits at the intersection of mathematical biology, numerical analysis, and mathematical physics. He focuses heavily on the development and numerical analysis of methods for studying biological processes at the single cell scale. His recent work addresses the rigorous coarse-grained limits of particle stochastic reaction-diffusion models, and he has developed highly accurate, efficient numerical methods to simulate these models within realistic cellular geometries. He complements this theoretical work with collaborative studies with experimentalists, investigating problems in T cell signaling and antibody-antigen interactions that combine modeling, inference, and experimental data to estimate the biophysical parameters driving ligand-receptor dynamics. In recent years he has also led the development of open source numerical libraries for the modeling and simulation of systems of reacting chemicals
His contributions to applied mathematics and biology have been recognized with numerous grants and honors, including an NSF CAREER Award, as well as recent highlighted publications in journals such as Nature Communications.
Bio: Misha Kilmer
Bio: Dr. John Urschel is the Class of 1956 Career Development Assistant Professor of Mathematics at MIT. Previously, he was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study and a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT in 2021 under the supervision of Michel Goemans. His main research interests include matrix analysis, numerical linear algebra, and spectral graph theory. He is the recipient of the SIAM DiPrima Prize, the SIAM Early Career Prize in Linear Algebra, and the ILAS Brualdi Early Career Prize.