Gap Closing Between Mathematics and Biology

September 9, 2010

Whether it's called math-bio or bio-math, the wave of the future means incorporating quantitative reasoning into undergraduate biology courses and integrating biological exemplars into mathematics courses, according to the latest issue of CBE-Life Sciences Education.

Published online by the American Society for Cell Biology, the issue contains thirty articles, essays, and features highlighting progress over the last decade.

"The national scientific and academic community has issued repeated clarion calls for revising college biology curricula such that mathematical and computational preparation for future life scientists reflects the tools and practices of science," said Pat Marsteller (Emory University), who, along with John Jungck (Beloit College), served as editors.

Contributors offer advice and analysis on closing the gap between mathematical and biology skills. Notable articles include:

Kendrick Shaw (Case Western Reserve University) and colleagues, in "From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back," report on teaching modeling to biology students and biology to mathematics and engineering students.

Irene M. Evans (Rochester Institute of Technology) and Yolanda V. Tra (University of Michigan) describe using DNA microarray analysis as a bridge that links mathematics and biology courses.

Andrej Šorgo (University of Maribor, in Slovenia) demonstrates the power of fractal geometry in modeling complex biological structures in an unusual fashion. He formed a giant human fractal with his students by lying on the floor of the university rotunda and extending their arms and legs into a multipointed, concentric fractal star. A photograph of Šorgo's fractal graces the cover of the special math-bio issue.

Source: CBE Life Sciences Education (September 2010); Science Codex (September 2, 2010)