1. Promote communication with related disciplines, including the symplectic geometry program in 2009-2010.
2. Lead to new breakthroughs in the subject and find new applications to low dimensional topology (knot theory, three-manifold topology, and smooth four manifold topology).
3. Educate a new generation of graduate...

Biofilms are important in many human infections, particularly those involving indwelling devices. However, many non-indwelling device bacterial biofilms foster both acute and chronic infections, such as those in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, the gastrointestinal tract and hepatobiliary system, middle ear, and in the oral cavity. Such infections often persist despite aggressive antimicr...

Biological cells are complex non-equilibrium systems that cannot survive without efficient supplying of the necessary compounds and removing of wasteful or harmful molecules. A remarkable feature of biological transport is very high efficiency and selectivity, and robustness, i.e., its ability to adjust to fluctuations in cellular environment. Cell transport mechanisms fall into two categories:...

Neuroendocrinology is at the intersection of neuroscience and endocrinology. Of the many endocrine glands in the body, the one that is under the most direct neural control is the pituitary gland, which is located adjacent to the brain region called the hypothalamus. The anterior portion of the pituitary consists of several cell types, each of which is electrically excitable (like neurons) and w...