Course/Journal: Methods in Theoretical Biology

Methods in Theoretical Biology is

a do-it-yourself course for graduate students who want to learn about this topic
an electronic journal for lecturers who want to submit Examples or Exercises

Why should I do such a course?

you have an interest in the subject
you have to solve problems in quantitative biology
as biologist you want to interact with mathematicians
as mathematician you want to interact with biologists or natural scientists
you are looking for inspiration in fields that are not your own specialisation
you are looking for reference material

Why should I submit material?

you want to share joy and/or excitement about a problem and/or its solution in quantitative biology
you want to use the offered material in your own course, and want to contribute in your own way
you want to ask attention for discoveries that you made, by summarizing it in an example, or rework it in an exercise, and refer to your publication
you want a fast way for publication of your findings
you have sympathy for the project

Why did they set up this project?

to promote the distribution of knowlegde, free of cultural and financial constraints
to stimulate the further development of Theoretical Biology as a great art of science
to improve the teaching of quantitative methods in biology to graduate students, and motivate them to contribute to the field

The project "Methods in Theoretical Biology"

The general idea is to develop a dynamic do-it-yourself course that has several components that can be combined in many ways for different personal needs.

The examples and exercises are collected in a MySQL data base. Over the years, the collection of examples and exercises will grow, and cover many specializations in biology (ecology, medical biology, neuro-sciences, biochemistry, etc). The student can select the level of difficulty, and the biological specialization, for instance, from the example and exercise data-base, and compose his/her own selection, which, together with the general Method Document will provide material that optimally matches him/her interests. The student can also select a particular concept or technique and study its applications in the various biological specializations. The advantages of the style of working are that the course material is dynamic (each student and lecturer can make his/her own selection), and self-improving in quality through feedback from users.

At this moment we offer the material for self-study only. We will use it in our local courses, where we can offer guidance to students and organize discussions. We imagine that other lecturers can do the same. In the future we might organize tele-course in the style of the DEB and the DEBtox course.

Disclaimers

The documents and programs in this web-site are distributed free of costs in the hope that they will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

We have no particular reason to believe that this web-site will have a limited life span, but from our biological experience we know that nothing is for ever. In the unfortunate case that we have to close this web-site in the unforeseen future, we herewith claim the right to close this web-site and we do not accept any responsibility for that, or its direct or indirect effects and consequences. In such a case we will try to move it to another adress.

Go to the DEB information page