数学与统计学院“21世纪学术前沿”讲座预告

报告题目: Old Unsolved Problems in Biology and New Computational Perspectives from Topology and Statistical Learning Theory: From Bacteria and Plants towards the Human Brain
时间: 1.18(星期日) 下午2:00
地点: 研究生楼306

主讲人介绍：Amir Assadi教授于于加州大学伯克利分校获得数学学士学位(1974)，于普林斯顿大学获得数学硕士学位(1975)并在1979年获得博士学位(微分拓扑方向)。Assadi教授先后在普林斯顿大学、弗吉尼亚大学以及威斯康星大学任教，自1990至今为威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校教授，并兼职于生物医学工程系、设计学院、医学和公共卫生学院、生物技术中心等机构。Assadi教授的研究方向包括：1.纯数学：微分拓扑、微分几何；2.应用数学：信息科学、反问题、大数据研究、超级计算信息学；3.跨领域研究：信息神经学、视觉图像科学、生物信息理论、系统生物学。

报告主要内容：Study of variation in observable biological features (morphological variations, phenotypic traits) in an organism (species) is an old area of biology. Darwin uses "variation" as a cornerstone of his theory of evolution. In this expository lecture, I discuss examples morphological variation in diverse contexts. Then I provide unifying mathematical interpretations of certain concrete biological questions. Using contemporary understanding of molecular networks and their dynamics, I propose rigorous computational approaches to verify the mathematical conjectures and to test the related biological hypotheses regarding morphological variations and quantifying phenotypic traits.