Ecological Dynamics of
Microbial Communities:
new approaches

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Upcoming Events

Ecological Dynamics of Microbial Communities: new approaches

Apr 29 – May 03, 2024

NITMB @ The John Hancock Center, 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

This workshop will explore new approaches to ecological dynamics of microbial communities. Co-hosted with the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation.

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NSF-Simons NITMB News

‘Ecological Dynamics’ Workshop: Supporting Early Career Researchers

NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology will convene the next workshop, Ecological Dynamics of Microbial...

‘Rigorous Discussion’ of Critical Questions in Mathematics and Biology at the 2024 NITMB Annual Meeting

NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology members and guests gathered for the Institute’s annual meeting at the...

Understanding Biological Synchrony with Applied Mathematics: A Conversation with Daniel Abrams

“Synchrony is everywhere once you start to look for it.” The NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology is...

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What is NSF-Simons NITMB?

The NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology (NITMB) aims to integrate the disciplines of mathematics and biology in order to transform the practice of biological research and to inspire new mathematical discoveries.

NITMB is a partnership between Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

It is funded by the National Science Foundation DMS-2235451 and the Simons Foundations MP-TMPS-00005320.

The mission of the NITMB is to create a nationwide collaborative research community that will generate new mathematical results and uncover the “rules of life” through theories, data-informed mathematical models, and computational and statistical tools. The NITMB leverages close collaborations between experimentalists and theorists to synergize discovery. The fundamental research done by NITMB will stimulate advances in areas as diverse as the environment, medicine, and technology development. NITMB members and visitors share space in downtown Chicago that is readily accessible to collaborators across the U.S. and the world.

Convening activities are critical for bridging gaps between mathematics and biology, and for uniting these disciplines over major questions of common interest. They are organized around broad conceptual themes common to mathematics and biology and highlight opportunities for mathematicians to develop new mathematics that have a direct impact on biology research.

These are open to participants from institutions worldwide, and aim to include researchers from both disciplines. Activities are designed to encourage discovery, stimulate collaborations among participants, and build a dialogue concerning the practice of research by mathematicians and biologists. Most convening programs will be held in the NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology space located in the John Hancock Center in downtown Chicago.

Realizing our vision requires combining biological experimentation and new theories grounded in mathematics. Research supported by the NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology is structured so that theorists and experimentalists collaborate on experimental design and data analysis, as well as modeling. NITMB research also supports the development of new mathematics inspired by biology. Internal research projects support NITMB researchers and bring together faculty from participating institutions. A National Pilot Projects Program funds high-risk projects, each with a one-year funding period. The program's aim is to recruit new mathematical scientists and biologists into collaborating on seed projects. NITMB has an innovative research program organized around five interrelated themes, selected because they reflect key capabilities of biological systems and interconnect with open mathematical problems. These themes establish bridges across subdisciplines of biological and mathematical sciences, ensuring that research in one domain will support advances in the others. The themes also reflect our cross-disciplinary organizational structure, insuring that our training and community-building activities foster deep interactions across disciplines.

Students who intend to work at the math/biology interface must not only acquire skills from both disciplines, but also develop an intuition for how this knowledge can be applied across disciplinary boundaries. Developing this fluency begins at the K-12 level, when students learn to formulate questions in mathematical terms and use mathematics as a language to reason about the world. It can then continue into their college education, when young scholars must learn increasingly sophisticated techniques that do not fall neatly into disciplinary silos. Structural inequities create disadvantages that impact students, teachers and schools, ultimately reducing the wealth of creativity in the scientific workforce. The NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology is uniquely positioned to address these needs and has a set of programs to tackle the challenges.

Long-standing structural disadvantages separate many underserved communities in the U.S. from opportunities to benefit from and add to scientific knowledge. The NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology has a set of initiatives to bridge these gaps and expand and diversify the interdisciplinary workforce. NITMB integrates inclusiveness into its training, education, research capacity building, community outreach, workforce development, and dissemination activities.

A major goal of the NITMB to broaden participation and increase diversity in mathematics and biology by engaging a broad audience in the community and colleges around the country. NITMB’s activities will leverage its physical location in Chicago, which has a large population of people who are under-represented in the scientific workforce.