The ADM Maths Society are hosting a talk with Prof Robert Insall about his work in the intersection of maths with biology. This will have great appeal to mathematicians interested in applications to biology, and the talk will have some career advice for this area.
Abstract:
Self-generated chemotaxis, a feedback-laden way that cells explore their environments; and how we combine mathematical modelling and microscopes to understand it.
Prof Insall's group mixes mathematical modelling with wet experiments to find out what makes cells choose where to move. They are interested in chemotaxis - the process by which cells read chemical gradients then migrate up them. Their strongest interest is in conditions where cells generate the gradients themselves, while responding to them. This leads to unexpected, emergent results that are almost impossible to understand using experiments alone. During the talk, Prof Insall will muse on how biologists and mathematicians can collaborate productively, and suggest areas of biology that are in desperate need of mathematicians and modellers.