News

• Summer Undergraduate Research Program | Now Accepting Applications
• Biological Systems that Learn Workshop | Jan. 6 - 10, 2025
• Sarah Cobey Member Bio
• Xaq Pitkow Spotlight

Upcoming Events

• Emerging Directions Workshop | Feb. 17 - 21, 2025
• New Developments in the Theory and Methodology of Graph Neural Networks | April 29 - 30, 2025
• NITMB MathBio Convergence Conference | August 11 - 14, 2025
• NITMB Seminar Series
• Science + Tea at NITMB | Fridays at 3pm

Opportunities

• Workshop Proposals
• Visiting Scholars Program
• Long Program Proposals

Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Applications Due January 27, 2025

Join us for the NITMB's 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP)! During this eight-week summer program, you will be paired with an NITMB faculty mentor to engage in cutting-edge research at the interface between mathematics and biology. Our mission is to broaden participation and train the next generation of researchers developing the theory and mathematics needed to highlight the fundamental roles of physical, chemical, and biological constraints as organizing principles for understanding biological mechanisms.

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Upcoming Workshop - Biological Systems that Learn

January 6 - 10, 2025

Explore how biological systems encode local rules for experience-dependent modification in physical hardware to implement robust solutions to complex inverse problems.

The goal of this workshop is to discover new core principles and mathematical tools/approaches shared across physical learning systems, biological learning systems and neural networks that will inform deeper understanding and future discovery in all 3 fields. To this end, we will bring together researchers interested in viewing biological problems through the lens of inverse problems, researchers working on physical learning, and researchers studying neural networks for a week of intensive discussion and cross-fertilization.

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How does host immunity regulate pathogen populations?

Meet Sarah Cobey, Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago.

Learn About Sarah Cobey

If you'd like to be featured in a future newsletter, please contact NITMB's Digital Media Specialist, Ben Stemen (stemenb@uchicago.edu)

What structured computations explain the brain?

Meet Xaq Pitkow, Associate Professor of Computational Neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University!

Learn About Xaq Pitkow

Want to nominate a researcher for an NITMB spotlight? Contact NITMB's Digital Media Specialist, Ben Stemen (stemenb@uchicago.edu)

Emerging Directions Workshop

February 17 - 21, 2025

Experience NITMB, discover available opportunities, and contribute to discussions that will establish the directions NITMB will pursue in 2025 and beyond.

Held annually in the winter, the Emerging Directions Workshop is discussion-based and thematically very broad. Open problems in biology are presented by leading researchers, who share their high-level perspective. These invited speakers are also chosen because they can productively and enthusiastically engage with the many questions and comments from the diverse workshop audience that includes junior researchers and curious mathematicians.

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August 11 - 14, 2025

Join us for the NITMB MathBio Convergence Conference, an international forum for the presentation and discussion of research at the frontier between biology and mathematics! We'll explore challenging problems in biology that are inspiring new mathematics, statistics, theory and computation, as well as mathematics that is generating important insights in biology.

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Join us for the next entries in the NITMB Seminar Series! The NITMB Seminar Series brings together a mix of mathematicians and biologist to foster discussion and collaboration between the two fields. Seminars take place on Fridays from 10am - 11am at the NITMB in the John Hancock Center in downtown Chicago. There will be both an in-person and virtual component.

January 17 - Sara Solla, Professor of Neuroscience and of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University.

January 24 - Matthias Steinrücken, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago

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Join us every Friday at 3pm for a weekly social event at the NITMB office. Cookies, Cuppa, and Chalk. Come science-alize (science + socialize)!

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We invite the proposals for scientific workshops to be held at the NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology. A Scientific Workshop is a week-long, focused program in a specific area of current research at the intersection of biological and mathematical sciences. NITMB workshops typically have only a few formal talks, with the bulk of the time allocated for discussions, brainstorming, informal chalk talks, and initiating research projects within smaller groups. Scientific workshops receive full administrative and financial support from the Institute.

Propose a Workshop

Participants in the Visiting Scholars program will be appointed for an extended period to visit and work in the NITMB headquarters and participate in the vibrant intellectual life of the NITMB, including workshops, seminars, tutorials, and research-in-progress meetings. NITMB Visiting Scholars will be granted a shared office and, upon request, may also be affiliated with one or more of the NITMB's research groups.



Apply Now

Long Programs offer the opportunity for faculty, postdocs, and students to be in residence at the NITMB. Those in residence conduct research, collaborate with NITMB faculty and NITMB fellows, provide training opportunities for students, and engage with additional visitors. Long Programs address one or more of our five research themes over the course of 4-10 weeks. Long programs receive administrative and financial support from the Institute, allowing organizers to focus on the scientific aspects of the activities.

Propose a Long Program