Preface

The biosciences provide rich grounds for mathematical problems, and many questions require the development of new mathematical theory and algorithms. This special issue gives particular attention to new ideas and developments of the theory of and algorithms for dynamical systems that are directly or implicitly motivated by real-world applications in the biosciences. It documents the outcomes of the Current topic workshop (CTW) "New Developments in Dynamical Systems Arising from the Biosciences" held at the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (MBI) in Columbus, Ohio, in March 2011. MBI seeks to reinforce existing research efforts and inspire young talent to tackle such mathematical challenges with the aim of fostering innovations and the development of new areas in the mathematical sciences motivated by important questions in the biosciences. The workshop covered four themes to showcase how the biosciences have been inspiring recent progress: systems with delays, systems with multiple scales, dynamics of networks, and stochastic bifurcation theory. The goal was to discuss new directions of fundamental research in each of the four themes, how they are connected, and how they contribute to the understanding of specific questions in bioscience applications. Indeed, several of the talks touched on multiple themes.

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