Mathematical Biology Group
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Prof PT Saunders
Department of Mathematics
Room 421, Strand Building |
The aim of my research programme is to explain the properties of organisms and other complex systems in terms of ordinary mathematics, physics and chemistry. This is in contrast to the neo-Darwinist approach, originally applied only in biology but now increasingly in other fields as well, in which selection is seen as the sole creative force and consequently the focus of interest. At present, my work is concentrated into two main areas: (a) Physiological control (b) Generic properties of complex nonlinear systems (I am unable to take on any graduate students at present.)
Non-technical articles:
The Precautionary Principle and the Burden of Proof (An ISIS Report) With a Bang, not a Whimper -- a review of the recent report of the US Committee on Abrupt Climate Change (An ISIS Report) Hormonal Rein Control by Johan Koeslag (University of Stellenbosch) What is insulin resistance? Daisyworld and Diabetes (Powerpoint) The Precautionary Principle -- talk given at the Franco-British meeting on policy making and risk assessment, Paris, February 2007.
Selected publications:
The Organism as a Dynamical System. In: Thinking about Biology, SFI Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Lecture Notes Vol. III (F. Varela & W. Stein, eds). Addison Wesley, Reading, 1993, pp 41-63. (This file is about 1.7Mb. For the 200Kb version without the drawing of the epigenetic landscape, click here). Evolution without Natural Selection: Further Implications of the Daisyworld Parable. Journal of Theoretical Biology 166 (1994) 365-373. Figures (tif file) Reliable segmentation by successive bifurcation. P.T. Saunders & M.W. Ho. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 57 (1995) 539-556. Glucose homeostasis with infinite gain: An application of the Daisyworld parable? J.H. Koeslag, P.T. Saunders & J.A. Wessels. Journal of Endocrinology 517 (1997) 643-649. Integral Rein Control in Physiology. P.T. Saunders, J.H. Koeslag & J.A. Wessels. Journal of Theoretical Biology 194 (1998) 163-173. Darwinism and Economic Theory. In Sociobiology and Bioeconomics (ed P. Koslowski). Springer, Berlin, 1999, pp. 259-278. The chromogranins and the counterregulatory hormones: Do they make homeostatic sense? J.H. Koeslag, P.T. Saunders & J.A. Wessels, Journal of Physiology 517, (1999) 643-647. Integral rein control in physiology II: A general model. P.T. Saunders, J.H. Koeslag & J.A. Wessels, Journal of Theoretical Biology 206 (2000), 211-220 Archetypes, complexes and self-organisation. P.T. Saunders & P. Skar, Journal of Analytical Psychology 46 (2001), 305-323 A reappraisal of the blood glucose homeostat which comprehensively explains the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus-Syndrome X complex. J.H. Koeslag, P.T. Saunders & E. Terblanche. Journal of Physiology 549.2, (2003) 333-346. Bricks without straw: Darwinism in the social sciences. Theoria 18 (2003) 259-272.
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