Modeling and Optimization in Cryobiology

Cryopreservation of cells and tissues can be modeled as a series of heat and mass transport problems that translate into well defined optimal control problems when coupled with known physical and biological contstraints. These transport models and their associated controls encompass multiple scales and multiple domains providing a rich resource for interesting yet tractable problems. In this talk I discuss the background and development of mass transport models at several biological scales, analytical and numerical optimal control schemes for some of these models, and inverse-problem approaches to control of coupled spatial domains.

Speaker Bio: James Benson was born and raised in Indianapolis where he developed strong interests in both music and science. Even before graduating from high school he worked as a summer research assistant at the Cryobiology Research Institute (CRI). This experience influenced him to forego a career as a rock musician in order to earn an undergraduate degree in mathematics at Purdue University while still continuing to work summers at the CRI. He went to graduate school at the University of Missouri in a program in the Mathematics department which allowed him to do laboratory research and modeling in John Crister's reproductive cryobiology research laboratory. During his graduate training, he received the Donald K Anderson Graduate Research award and the Peter Steponkus Crystal Award. His thesis advisors were Carmen Chicone (Mathematics) and John Critser (Biology). His dissertation title was "Mathematical Problems from Cryobiology." He is currently on the Board of Editors for the journal "CryoLetters" and has been nominated to the electoral slate for the Board of Governors of the Society for Cryobiology.

Presentation Slides: PDF

Note: Visitors from outside NIST must contact Robin Bickel; (301) 975-3668; at least 24 hours in advance.