The Mathematical Biosciences Institute (MBI) just learned it will receive a total of $16.2 million in National Science Foundation (NSF) funding for the next five years.

Established in 2002, Ohio State’s MBI, is one of eight math institutes around the country, funded by NSF’s Division of Mathematical Sciences.

“MBI’s success in this year’s national institutes’ competition was due in large measure to the TIE infrastructure support that it received from Ohio State during the past four years,” Marty Golubitsky, MBI director said.

These institutes were set up to foster innovation in developing and applying mathematical, statistical, and computational methods to solve significant problems in the biosciences.

The MBI is mission-driven, actively promoting and facilitating interdisciplinary research among the mathematical, biological, and biomedical sciences.

According to Golubitsky, who is a tireless ambassador for the MBI, "What makes this so important and exciting is that the mathematics and statistical techniques needed to make progress in the biological sciences is often quite different from the more traditional mathematics used in the physical sciences and engineering, and oftentimes it is much more difficult.It is for this reason that the mathematics community supports an institute to explore the many and varied relations between the mathematical and biological sciences.”

MBI funding supports the work of 12 or more postdoctoral fellows annually, along with a number of long-term visiting scholars.

MBI scholars have discovered new methods for helping wounds heal, using calculus; tracked the worldwide spread of viruses -- including H1N1, using statistics; and have gained a new understanding of the body’s immune response, using computer models.

Additionally, each year, approximately 700 visitors attend special MBI workshops. Topics, such as climate change or public health, change yearly to reflect key world issues.