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Mathematical Biology

Section edited by Marek Kimmel

Progress in experimentation, quantification and visualization techniques now makes it possible to build mathematical models that are far more accurate than ever before. Importantly, single-cell dynamic imaging sequencing enables gauging the heterogeneity within cell populations, whether stochastic or caused by deterministic complexity. This makes models that were purely theoretical 20 or 30 years ago falsifiable and capable of predicting effects of a wide range of perturbations. We seek papers combining new biology with advanced and rigorous mathematics. Examples of focal topics include, but are not limited to: stochastic models of mutation, emergence and evolution of multiple clonal populations in cancer, biological pattern formation influenced by stochasticity, interaction of cell population genetics and cell population dynamics in progression of chronic diseases, and self-organization in normal and disease processes (such as cancer).

  1. Cancer cell invasion, dissemination, and metastasis have been linked to an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of individual tumour cells. During EMT, adhesion molecules like E-cadherin are downregulated a...

    Authors: David Reher, Barbara Klink, Andreas Deutsch and Anja Voss-Böhme
    Citation: Biology Direct 2017 12:18
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Importins and exportins influence gene expression by enabling nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of transcription factors. A key transcription factor of innate immunity, NF-κB, is sequestered in the cytoplasm by its ...

    Authors: Zbigniew Korwek, Karolina Tudelska, Paweł Nałęcz-Jawecki, Maciej Czerkies, Wiktor Prus, Joanna Markiewicz, Marek Kochańczyk and Tomasz Lipniacki
    Citation: Biology Direct 2016 11:61
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Leukemias are malignant proliferative disorders of the blood forming system. Sequencing studies demonstrate that the leukemic cell population consists of multiple clones. The genetic relationship between the d...

    Authors: Thomas Stiehl, Christoph Lutz and Anna Marciniak-Czochra
    Citation: Biology Direct 2016 11:51
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. A thorough understanding of the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that drive the phenotypic evolution of neoplastic cells is a timely and key challenge for the cancer research community. In this respect, ...

    Authors: Tommaso Lorenzi, Rebecca H. Chisholm and Jean Clairambault
    Citation: Biology Direct 2016 11:43
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Colon and intestinal crypts serve as an important model system for adult stem cell proliferation and differentiation. We develop a spatial stochastic model to study the rate of somatic evolution in a normal cr...

    Authors: Leili Shahriyari, Natalia L. Komarova and Alexandra Jilkine
    Citation: Biology Direct 2016 11:42
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a neuroendocrine system that regulates numerous physiological processes. Disruptions in the activity of the HPA axis are correlated with stress-related diseases...

    Authors: Lae U. Kim, Maria R. D’Orsogna and Tom Chou
    Citation: Biology Direct 2016 11:13
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. Antiangiogenic agents have been recently added to the oncological armamentarium with bevacizumab probably being the most popular representative in current clinical practice. The elucidation of the mode of acti...

    Authors: Katerina D. Argyri, Dimitra D. Dionysiou, Fay D. Misichroni and Georgios S. Stamatakos
    Citation: Biology Direct 2016 11:12
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Translation of nucleotides into a numeric form has been approached in many ways and has allowed researchers to investigate the properties of protein-coding sequences and noncoding sequences. Typically, more pr...

    Authors: Tonya Woods, Thanawadee Preeprem, Kichun Lee, Woojin Chang and Brani Vidakovic
    Citation: Biology Direct 2016 11:6
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. Stoichiometric imbalances in macromolecular complexes can lead to altered function. Such imbalances stem from under- or over-expression of a subunit of a complex consequent to a deletion, duplication or regula...

    Authors: Reiner A. Veitia and James A. Birchler
    Citation: Biology Direct 2015 10:42
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. Long-lived marine megavertebrates (e.g. sharks, turtles, mammals, and seabirds) are inherently vulnerable to anthropogenic mortality. Although some mathematical models have been applied successfully to manage ...

    Authors: Easton R White, John D Nagy and Samuel H Gruber
    Citation: Biology Direct 2014 9:23
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. A recent study argued, based on data on functional genome size of major phyla, that there is evidence life may have originated significantly prior to the formation of the Earth.

    Authors: Caren Marzban, Raju Viswanathan and Ulvi Yurtsever
    Citation: Biology Direct 2014 9:1
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. Data assimilation refers to methods for updating the state vector (initial condition) of a complex spatiotemporal model (such as a numerical weather model) by combining new observations with one or more prior ...

    Authors: Eric J Kostelich, Yang Kuang, Joshua M McDaniel, Nina Z Moore, Nikolay L Martirosyan and Mark C Preul
    Citation: Biology Direct 2011 6:64
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. In many biological and therapeutic contexts, it is highly desirable to target a chemical specifically to a particular tissue where it exerts its biological effect. In this paper, we present a simple, generic, ...

    Authors: Bruce S Gardiner, Lihai Zhang, David W Smith, Peter Pivonka and Alan J Grodzinsky
    Citation: Biology Direct 2011 6:46
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. Several computational candidate gene selection and prioritization methods have recently been developed. These in silico selection and prioritization techniques are usually based on two central approaches - the ex...

    Authors: Zané Lombard, Chungoo Park, Kateryna D Makova and Michèle Ramsay
    Citation: Biology Direct 2011 6:30
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. False discovery rate (FDR) control is commonly accepted as the most appropriate error control in multiple hypothesis testing problems. The accuracy of FDR estimation depends on the accuracy of the estimation o...

    Authors: Juntao Li, Puteri Paramita, Kwok Pui Choi and R Krishna Murthy Karuturi
    Citation: Biology Direct 2011 6:27
    Content type: Research Published on:
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    Journal Impact Factor: 5.7
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    Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): 1.060
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Biology Direct

ISSN: 1745-6150

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