Society for Mathematical Biology

The Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB) is an international association co-founded in 1972 in the United States by George Karreman, Herbert Daniel Landahl and (initially chaired) by Anthony Bartholomay for the furtherance of joint scientific activities between Mathematics and Biology research communities.[1][2] The society publishes the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology,[3][4] as well as the quarterly SMB newsletter.[5]

History

The Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB) emerged and grew from the earlier school of mathematical biophysics, initiated by a pioneer of mathematical biology in the United States, Nicolas Rashevsky.[6][7] Thus, the roots of SMB go back to the publication in 1939 of the first international journal of mathematical biology, originally entitled "The Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics"—which was founded by Nicolas Rashevsky, and which is now published by SMB under the name of "Bulletin of Mathematical Biology".[8] Professor Rashevsky also founded in 1969 the non-profit organization "Mathematical Biology, Incorporated"—the precursor of SMB. Another notable member of the University of Chicago[9] school of mathematical biology was Anatol Rapoport whose major interests were in developing basic concepts in the related area of mathematical sociology, who cofounded the Society for General Systems Research and became a president of the latter society in 1965. Herbert D. Landahl was initially also a member of Rashevsky's school of mathematical biology, and became the second president of SMB in the 1980s; both Herbert Landahl and Robert Rosen from Rashevsky's research group were focused on dynamical systems approaches to complex systems biology, with the latter researcher becoming in 1980 the president of the Society for General Systems Research.

Leadership

The Society for Mathematical Biology is governed by its Officers and Board of Directors, elected by the membership. Current SMB President is Reinhard Laubenbacher (University of Florida), and Past-President serving as vice president is Jane Heffernan (York University). SMB secretary is Brandilyn Stigler (Southern Methodist University), and treasurer is Claus Kadelka (Iowa State University). The current Board of Directors is composed of Jessica Conway (Penn State University), Padmini Rangamani (University of California San Diego), Amina Eladdadi (The College of St Rose), Jennifer Flegg (University of Melbourne), Robyn Araujo (University of Melbourne), and Richard Bertram (Florida State University).

SMB presidents
Years of service President Affiliation
1973-1981 George Karreman University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
1981-1983 Herbert Landahl University of California, San Francisco
1983-1985 John Stephenson National Heart Institute, National Institutes of Health
1985-1987 John Jacquez University of Michigan Medical School
1987-1989 Simon Levin Cornell University
1989-1991 Stuart Kauffman Santa Fe Institute
1991-1993 Alan Perelson Los Alamos National Laboratory
1993-1995 John J. Tyson Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
1995-1997 Leah Edelstein-Keshet University of British Columbia
1997-1999 Leon Glass McGill University
1999-2001 Alan Hastings University of California, Davis
2001-2003 Mark Lewis University of Alberta
2003-2005 Lou Gross University of Tennessee at Knoxville
2005-2007 Mark Chaplain University of Dundee
2007-2009 Avner Friedman Ohio State University
2009-2011 Michael Mackey McGill University
2011-2013 Gerda de Vries University of Alberta
2013-2015 Fred Adler University of Utah
2015-2017 Santiago Schnell University of Michigan Medical School
2017-2019 Denise Kirschner University of Michigan Medical School
2019-2021 Alexander Anderson Moffitt Cancer Center
2021-2023 Heiko Enderling Moffitt Cancer Center
2023-2025 Jane Heffernan York University
2025-2027 Reinhard Laubenbacher University of Florida

Research and educational activities

Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
DisciplineMathematical biology
LanguageEnglish
Edited byMatthew Simpson
Publication details
Former name
Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics
History1939–present
Publisher
Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Society for Mathematical Biology
FrequencyMonthly
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Bull. Math. Biol.
Indexing
Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
CODENBMTBAP
ISSN0092-8240 (print)
1522-9602 (web)
LCCN75643459
OCLC no.02241208
Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics
ISSN0007-4985
Links

In addition to its research and news publications, the society supports education in: mathematical biology, mathematical biophysics, complex systems biology and theoretical biology through sponsorship of several topic-focused graduate and postdoctoral courses. To encourage and stimulate young researchers in this relatively new and rapidly developing field of mathematical biology, the society awards several prizes, as well as lists regularly new open international opportunities for researchers and students in this field.[10]

Bulletin of Mathematical Biology

The society publishes the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. The Bulletin was founded by Nicolas Rashevsky, under the title of the Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, before acquiring its present title, and quickly became the classical journal in general mathematical biology and served as the principal natural publication outlet for the majority of mathematical biologists. Many classical papers have appeared in the Bulletin, and several of these are familiar to biologists. It has become an important avenue for the exchange and transmission of new ideas and approaches to biological problems and incorporates both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of mathematical models and characterizations of biological processes and systems.[11]

Nicolas Rashevsky remained the editor of the Bulletin until his death on January 16, 1972.

Bulletin of Mathematical Biology Editor-in-Chief
Years of service Editor Affiliation
1939-1972 Nicolas Rashevsky University of Chicago

University of Michigan

1972-1981 Herbert Landahl University of California, San Francisco
1982-1986 Hugo M. Martinez University of California, San Francisco
1986-2001 Lee A. Siegel Weizmann Institute
2002-2015 Philip Maini University of Oxford
2016 - 2022 Alan Hastings

Reinhard Laubenbacher

University of California, Davis

University of Connecticut Health

2022–present Matthew Simpson Queensland University of Technology

Annual Meetings

The Society holds annual meetings that are important locations for dissemination of research.[12] The Society's website records its annual meetings going back to 2002,[13] although of course they took place earlier due to the Society's history. The Society states on its website regarding its annual meetings: "In odd years, the Annual Meetings are generally organized in North America. In even years, the Annual Meetings are generally organized outside North America."[12] The next annual meeting will take place jointly with the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology in Graz, Austria, in 2026.[14]

References

  1. ^ Conrad, Michael (September 1996). "SMB – "Childhood, Boyhood, Youth."". Society for Mathematical Biology Newsletter. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  2. ^ http://www.smb.org/governance/history.shtml History of SMB
  3. ^ "Bulletin of Mathematical Biology". Springer New York. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  4. ^ Maini, P.; Schnell, S.; Jolliffe, S. (2004). "Bulletin of mathematical biology—facts, figures and comparisons" (PDF). Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. 66 (4): 595–603. doi:10.1016/j.bulm.2004.03.003. PMID 15210308. S2CID 10715399.
  5. ^ http://www.smb.org/publications/index.shtml SMB Publications
  6. ^ Rosen, Robert. 1972. "Tribute to Nicolas Rashevsky" 1899-1972. Progress in Theoretical Biology 2.
  7. ^ Conrad, Michael (September 1996). "SMB – CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, YOUTH". Society for Mathematical Biology Newsletter. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  8. ^ "Announcement". Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. 35 (1–2): 273. 1973. doi:10.1007/BF02558813.
  9. ^ The affiliation of Nicholas Rachevsky at the time.
  10. ^ http://www.smb.org/prizes/index.shtml Archived 2009-05-15 at the Wayback Machine SMB Mathematical Biology Prize Awards
  11. ^ Maini, P; Schnell, S; Jolliffe, S (July 2004). "Bulletin of mathematical biology-facts, figures and comparisons". Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. 66 (4): 595–603. doi:10.1016/j.bulm.2004.03.003. PMID 15210308. S2CID 10715399.
  12. ^ a b "Annual SMB Meetings". Society for Mathematical Biology - Annual SMB Meetings. Society for Mathematical Biology. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  13. ^ "Past Annual SMB Meetings". Society for Mathematical Biology - Past Annual Meetings. Society for Mathematical Biology. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  14. ^ "14th European Conference on Mathematical & Theoretical Biology: Joint event by SMB and ECMTB". ECMTB 2026. European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology. Retrieved 1 December 2025.

Further reading

  • Nicolas Rashevsky. 1965. The Representation of Organisms in Terms of Predicates, Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 27: 477–491.
  • Nicolas Rashevsky. 1969, Outline of a Unified Approach to Physics, Biology and Sociology., Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 31: 159–198.
  • Elsasser, M.W.: 1981, A Form of Logic Suited for Biology., In: Robert, Rosen, ed., Progress in Theoretical Biology, Volume 6, Academic Press, New York and London, pp. 23–62.
  • Rosen, R. 1958a, A Relational Theory of Biological Systems., Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 20: 245–260.
  • Rosen, R. 1958b, The Representation of Biological Systems from the Standpoint of the Theory of Categories., Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 20: 317–341.
  • Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts, "A Logical Calculus of Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity", 1943, Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 5:115-133.
  • Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts, "On how we know universals: The perception of auditory and visual forms", 1947, Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 9:127-147.
  • Santiago Schnell, Ramon Grima and Philip K. Maini. 2007. Multiscale modeling in biology. American Scientist 95: 134–142.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Mathematical_Biology