Dynamical Systems in Physiology
Hosted by the Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics and the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology
Doctrines of equilibrium behavior have long dominated the sciences; in physiology, the equilibrium paradigm is embodied in the principle of homeostasis. The mathematical model of an equilibrium process is a stable equilibrium point of a differential equation, typically representing a negative feedback loop. But physiological quantities are, in fact, not in static equilibria. Bistability (the emergence of biological “switches”), stable oscillations, chaos, and spatial pattern formation are the most important forms of nonlinear behavior in physiology.
We will review some simple mathematical models that display these nonlinear behaviors, and discuss their applications to the control of gene expression, cardiac arrhythmias, and the embryological development of branching in the lung.
In each case, the use of mathematical modeling has led to new kinds of mechanisms underlying physiological processes.
Date:
3 December 2019, 13:00 (Tuesday, 8th week, Michaelmas 2019)
Venue:
Sherrington Library, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Speaker:
Professor Alan Garfinkel (Newton-Abraham Visiting Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, 2019-2020, Professor of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles)
Organising department:
Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organisers:
Professor David Paterson (DPAG, University of Oxford),
Professor Matthew Freeman (Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
hod-pa@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Hosts:
Professor David Paterson (DPAG, University of Oxford),
Professor Matthew Freeman (Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford)
Part of:
DPAG Guest Speakers
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Talitha Smith
