Computational Cell Biology

This textbook provides an introduction to dynamic modeling in cell biology, emphasizing computational approaches based on realistic molecular mechanisms. It is designed to introduce cell biology and neuroscience students to computational modeling, and applied mathematics students, theoretical biologists, and engineers to many of the problems in dynamical cell biology. This volume was conceived of and begun by Professor Joel Keizer based on his many years of teaching and research together with his colleagues. The project was expanded and finished by his students and friends after his untimely death in 1999.

Carefully selected examples are used to motivate the concepts and techniques of computational cell biology, through a progression of increasingly more complex and demanding cases. Illustrative exercises are included with every chapter, and mathematical and computational appendices are provided for reference. This textbook will be useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate theoretical biologists, and for mathematic students and life scientists who wish to learn about modeling in cell biology.

"What better tribute to the late Joel Keizer than to expand his unfinished accounts of teaching and research to a splendid book. Computational Cell Biology performs much more than it promises, for it also deals with considerable analytical material and with aspects of molecular biology. There's something for everybody interested in how modeling leads to greater understanding in the core of the biological sciences."

-Lee Segel (Weizmann Institute)

Klappentext

This textbook provides an introduction to dynamic modeling in molecular cell biology, taking a computational and intuitive approach. Detailed illustrations, examples, and exercises are included throughout the text. Appendices containing mathematical and computational techniques are provided as a reference tool.

Inhalt

Preface.-Introductory Course.-Dynamic Phenomena in Cells.-Voltage Gated Ionic Currents.-Transporters and Pumps.-Fast and Slow time Scales.-Whole Cell Models.-Intercellular Communication.-Advanced Material.-Spatial Modeling.-Modeling Intracellular Calcium Waves and Sparks.-Biochemical Oscillations.-Cell Cycle Controls.- Modeling the Stochastic Gating of Ion Channels.-Molecular Motors: Theory.-Molecular Motors: Examples.-Numerical Algorithms.-References.-Index.