| NIMBioS Investigative Workshop: Morphological Plant Models | |
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United States - TN - Knoxville |
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| Hosted by: | National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) |
| Venue: | NIMBioS at the Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville |
| Dates: | Sep 02, 2015 through Sep 04, 2015 |
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Description |
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| The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) is now accepting applications for its Investigative Workshop, "Morphological Plant Models," to be held September 2-4, 2015, at NIMBioS. Objectives: An increasing population faces the growing demand for agricultural products. Accurate global climate models that account for individual plant morphologies are needed to predict favorable human habitat. At the heart of addressing the problems of climate change and food security is the challenge of modeling plant morphology under field conditions, which requires the integration of plant biology and mathematics. An improved understanding of the mechanistic origins of plant development requires geometric and topological descriptors to characterize the phenotype of plants and its link to genotypes. However, the current plant phenotyping framework relies on simple length and diameter measurements, which fail to capture the exquisite architecture of plants. This workshop aims to set new frontiers in combining plant phenotyping with recent results from shape theory at the interface of geometry and topology. We will explore the potential of new mathematical concepts to analyze and quantify the relationship between morphological plant features. Plant biologists and theorists will participate in presentations and group discussions focused on developing plant science questions that can be answered innovatively. We will explore novel techniques, including persistent homology, graph-theory, and shape statistics to tackle questions in crop breeding, developmental biology, and vegetation modeling. The limitations of technological systems to capture plant morphology above and below ground will be discussed in order to focus on the application of existing concepts and the need to identify new mathematical directions. The mathematical/computational focus will be to identify current cutting edge techniques to analyze, model, and describe plants from the cell to the organ level and identify mathematical challenges in plant science applications. The biological focus will be on how biologists can develop datasets and provide perspectives to establish simple model systems that employ favorable mathematical and technological constraints to discover special cases for later generalization. The scientific goal is to develop a suite of biological questions that allow participants to jointly pioneer the use and development of geometric and topological methods within the plant sciences. The synergy provided from uniting these disparate disciplines will potentially fuel future collaborations and hasten new studies and perspectives in plant phenotyping. Location: NIMBioS at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Co-Organizers: Alexander Bucksch, Schools of Interactive Computing and Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta and Dan Chitwood, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis For more information about the workshop and a link to the online application form, go to http://www.nimbios.org/workshops/WS_plantmorph Participation in the workshop is by application only. Individuals with a strong interest in the topic are encouraged to apply, and successful applicants will be notified within two weeks of the application deadline. If needed, financial support for travel, meals, and lodging is available for workshop attendees. Application deadline: June 29, 2015 The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) (http://www.nimbios.org) brings together researchers from around the world to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to investigate solutions to basic and applied problems in the life sciences. NIMBioS is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. |
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| Additional Information | |
| Event URL: | http://www.nimbios.org/workshops/WS_plantmorph |
| ISCB Member Discount: | None |
| Contact Person: | Catherine Crawley ([javascript protected email address]) |
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