• Gerhard Wanner, Université de Genève, Section de mathématiques, C.P. 64, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland
• Assyr Abdulle, Chair of Computational Mathematics and Numerical Analysis (ANMC), Mathematics Institute of Computational  Science and Engrg. (MATHICSE), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, (EPFL), Station 8, 1015 Lausanne, Suisse
• Luigi Brugnano, Dipartimento di Matematica `U.Dini`, Universita` degli Studi, Firenze, Viale Morgagni 67/A, 50134 Firenze, Italy
• John C. Butcher, Department of Mathematics, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
• Philippe Chartier, Scientific leader of IPSO, INRIA-Rennes Bretagne Atlantique / ENS Cachan, Antenne de Bruz, Campus de Ker Lann, 35 170 Bruz, France
• Peter Deuflhard, Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB), Takustrasse 7, D-14195 Berlin-Dahlem, Germany
• Ivana Gudelj, NERC Advanced Fellow, Biosciences, Exeter University, UK
• Ernst Hairer, Université de Genève, Section de mathématiques, 2-4 rue du Lièvre, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland
• Martin Hairer, Mathematics Department, The University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
• Dietmar Hildenbrand, University of Technology Darmstadt, Rundeturmstrasse. 12, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany
• Tobias Jahnke, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Department of Mathematics, Institute for Applied and Numerical Mathematics, Kaiserstr. 93, D-76133 Karlsruhe, Germany
• Christian Lubich, Mathematisches Institut, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 10, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
• Christopher Marx, FAS Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, USA
• Konstantin Mischaikow, Biomaps and Department of Mathematics, Rutgers SUNJ, USA
• Alexander Ostermann, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 13/7, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
• Robert Beardmore, EPSRC Mathematics Fellow, Biosciences, Exeter University, UK
• Chus Sanz-Serna, Departamento de Matematica Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valladolid, Espana/Spain
• Ruggero Maria Santilli, President and Editor in Chief, Institute for Basic Research, P. O. Box 1577, Palm Harbor, FL 34682, U.S.A.
• Andrew Stuart, Mathematics Institute, Zeeman Building, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL UK
• Denis Talay, Directeur de Recherche at INRIA, 2004 route des Lucioles, BP 93, F-06902 Sophia Antipolis, France

This year we are very pleased to introduce a symposium on Mathematical Biology.

The invited speakers are :

Ivana Gudelj, NERC Advanced Fellow, Biosciences, Exeter University, UK
Christopher Marx, FAS Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, USA
Konstantin Mischaikow, Biomaps and Department of Mathematics, Rutgers SUNJ, USA
Robert Beardmore, EPSRC Mathematics Fellow, Biosciences, Exeter University, UK

This session should be of interest to a whole range of Numerical Analysts and to mathematitians in general. Below we give an abstrarct for this session:

Biology is, and will continue to be, a fertile ground for mathematicians. There are many mathematical problems arising from within spatial ecology, morphogenesis and pattern formation, that have grown to form what we now think of as "classical" mathematical biology, the tome of Jim Murray perhaps most epitomises the philosophy of this field.

However, the data-driven culture that now permeates evolutionary, cell and molecular biology has created a raft of new questions that require an inherently data-driven approach. When allied to "classical" mathematical modelling approaches, this yields brand new insight. It is no longer surprising to find mathematicians with their own wet labs, designing and conducting experimental work.

The purpose of this symposium is to introduce speakers with close connections to wet-lab biology who work with model organisms and mathematical techniques to solve current questions in microbiology. For example, flux balance analysis can be used to probe the metabolism of a single cell, but might we also use it to model and predict spatial structures in consortia of multi-bacterial populations? A key class of antibiotics inhibits the process of transcription in a bacterial cell whereupon genes are translated into messenger RNA, but can we model the details of transcription from physical and thermodynamic principles and therefore predict what effect drug-resistant mutations might have on transcription? Finally, cell metabolism is complex, but can we take a reductionist view and answer key evolutionary questions using metabolic models that are as simple as possible, but no simpler?

This symposium will address questions like these with speakers from the US and the UK who take a steadfastly cross-disciplinary approach that will be of interest to mathematicians and biologists alike.