Synopses & Reviews
Review
"This book is [a] very helpful tool for mathematicians constructing models in biology and hopefully it can also help biologists to understand some philosophy of mathematical descriptions of biological phenomena with all its pluses and minuses." --Mathematica Bohemica
Synopsis
This unique book is a collection of seven interdisciplinary surveys on modeling tumor dynamics and interactions between tumors and immune system. The goal is to provide an accessible, comprehensive report on the field and to help define a framework for future interdisciplinary research activity. Modeling and simulation of general behaviors of immune systems are also discussed. Each survey carefully covers a specialized field and provides a detailed description of the present state-of-the-art in research. The reader will be able to obtain essential information on the methodological approach used and on the models that are categorized and used. The book is an excellent resource and survey for applied mathematicians, mathematical biologists and biologists interested in modeling methods in immunology and related sciences.
Synopsis
Mathematical Modeling and Immunology An enormous amount of human effort and economic resources has been directed in this century to the fight against cancer. The purpose, of course, has been to find strategies to overcome this hard, challenging and seemingly endless struggle. We can readily imagine that even greater efforts will be required in the next century. The hope is that ultimately humanity will be successful; success will have been achieved when it is possible to activate and control the immune system in its competition against neoplastic cells. Dealing with the above-mentioned problem requires the fullest pos sible cooperation among scientists working in different fields: biology, im munology, medicine, physics and, we believe, mathematics. Certainly, bi ologists and immunologists will make the greatest contribution to the re search. However, it is now increasingly recognized that mathematics and computer science may well able to make major contributions to such prob lems. We cannot expect mathematicians alone to solve fundamental prob lems in immunology and (in particular) cancer research, but valuable sup port, however modest, can be provided by mathematicians to the research aspirations of biologists and immunologists working in this field."