Modeling Fluctuations in Biological Systems

by Newman, Timothy J.

• ISBN13: 9781848162112
• ISBN10: 1848162111
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-12-01
• Publisher: IMPERIAL COLLEGE PRESS

Summary

Stochastic fluctuations are important in biological systems at all scales; yet much of traditional biological modeling is firmly rooted in deterministic descriptions. Such deterministic models are relatively simple to formulate and give useful insights, but are unable to address fundamental aspects of stochasticity in biological processes, such as population extinction, random cell motion, and stochastic gene expression. The aim of this monograph is to portray to the reader the broad range of biological problems which can be addressed within a stochastic processes framework, and to illustrate the formulation and solution of a number of key problems, drawn from the author's research. Some aspects of numerical computation of stochastic processes are also described. Individual chapters discuss examples from population ecology, biochemical kinetics, and developmental biology. Numerous appendices describe technical points in more detail. This monograph will be helpful to students and researchers from all branches of the biosciences who wish to gain a better understanding of the role of stochasticity and fluctuations in biology.