The modeling of real biological systems can aid greatly in the understanding of the behavior of such systems, and in predicting how they will behave under all kinds of circumstances. In this course, we will study how to build models using differential equations, and how to analyze their behavior.
We will use a context of diverse examples from biology, including ecological growth, predator-prey systems, enzyme reactions, genetic regulation, animal coat patterns, and firing neurons.
Models are built from the ground up, using biological knowledge and mathematical tools, enabling the students to gain the experience necessary to build their own models, analyze them, and valuate their worth.