| Home | Positions Available | Graduate Study | List of Members | Ongoing Research | Publications | Labs | Related Links | Directions |
Room 241, 111 Cummington Street
The Department of Mathematics is one of two main foci of the CBD, with participation from Nancy Kopell, Tasso Kaper and Gene Wayne. The mathematics group collaborates with the other members of the CBD on questions concerning neural dynamics, fluid dynamics, mechanical oscillations and pattern formation. The main offices and common room of the CBD are in the math department.
Room 301, 44 Cummington Street
The mission of the Applied BioDynamics Lab (ABL), which is directed by Jim Collins, is to develop and implement techniques and concepts from nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics to study and improve the function of various physiological systems. The ABL is designed for conducting human movement, balance, and sensory studies, as well as computational biological studies. The lab includes a Vicon motion analysis system, a Kistler force platform, electromyographic equipment, psychophysical equipment, a network of Sun workstations, and several personal computers.
LSB 228, 24 Cummington Street
The Neuronal Dynamics Laboratory is headed by John White. Research in the laboratory focuses on how combinations of relatively simple nonlinear elements (e.g., ion channels) underlie neuronal response properties and information transmission at the cellular and network levels. Electrophysiological, immunocytochemical, theoretical, and computer modeling techniques are applied toward this goal. The lab is equipped with recording systems for measuring bioelectrical phenomena at several levels of detail. The lab includes several workstations, used for modeling and data analysis, and a software-hardware platform that is dedicated to development of novel instrumentation for biophysical experiments.
Room B14, 44 Cummington Street
Formerly called the BU Robotics Lab, the mission of the Laboratory for Intelligent Mechatronic Systems (LIMS), which is directed by John Baillieul, is to understand the design and integration of novel sensing and actuation technologies for a wide variety of control applications. The Lab is particularly interested in active materials exploiting electrostrictive and magnetostrictive effects, as well as the rapidly growing variety of silicon-based microelectromechanical (MEMs) devices. Incorporating these into actuator and sensor arrays, the Lab studies mechatronic systems in which global dynamical effects are achieved through the aggregation of distributed parallel local actions. Control of pattern formation in multiagent systems in which band limited communication channels mediate real-time data-flow between sensor and actuator arrays is central to the research. Applications of interest include fluid structure interactions, robotic system interactions with fluids and elastic solids, microelectromechanisms, rotating shafts, and turbine dynamics.
Research in this laboratory, directed by Michael Hasselmo, focuses on understanding the role of neuromodulators such as acetylcholine and norepinephrine in cortical function, using a combination of neurophysiological and behavioral experiments along with computational modeling.
Gardner Lab
The lab is currently focused on developing computational and experimental tools
for mapping and modeling system-wide properties of gene regulatory networks in
microbes. We are applying these methods to identify novel treatments that
overcome bacterial resistance, and to unlock the full catalytic potential of
microbes for bioremediation and energy production. The lab is equipped with
facilities for molecular and microbiology and high-performance computational
studies.
The focus of research is the control of the mammalian cell cycle and associated regulatory networks. In particular, cell cycle checkpoints have been shown to be associated with certain intrinsic network instabilities that are targets of signaling pathways to slow down or block cell cycle progression. One important checkpoint concerns the initiation of DNA replication; how this replication is coupled with the cell's death program (apoptosis) is another primary interest. Methods employed involve qualitative network analysis, nonlinear dynamics, computer simulations, and bioinformatics. These methods are currently being applied to the analysis of intracellular pathways relevant to chronic myeloid leukemia.
| Boston University / Center for BioDynamics / Labs |
Mail to CBD Webmaster |