These proceedings focus on future prospects as well as on the present status in some important areas of applied probability and mathematical biology. Some papers have educational intentions regarding the mathematical modelling of special biological situations. The workshop was the third one in Heidelberg dealing with stochastic modelling in biology, e.g., cell biology, embryology, oncology, epidemiology and genetics.

These proceedings focus on future prospects as well as on the present status in some important areas of applied probability and mathematical biology. Some papers have educational intentions regarding the mathematical modelling of special biological situations. The workshop was the third one in Heidelberg dealing with stochastic modelling in biology, e.g., cell biology, embryology, oncology, epidemiology and genetics.

Stochastic biomathematical models are becoming increasingly important as new light is shed on the role of noise in living systems. In certain biological systems, stochastic effects may even enhance a signal, thus providing a biological motivation for the noise observed in living systems. Recent advances in stochastic analysis and increasing computing power facilitate the analysis of more biophysically realistic models, and this book provides researchers in computational neuroscience and stochastic systems with an overview of recent developments. Key concepts are developed in chapters written by experts in their respective fields. Topics include: one-dimensional homogeneous diffusions and their boundary behavior, large deviation theory and its application in stochastic neurobiological models, a review of mathematical methods for stochastic neuronal integrate-and-fire models, stochastic partial differential equation models in neurobiology, and stochastic modeling of spreading cortical depression.

Since the first edition of Stochastic Modelling for Systems Biology, there have been many interesting developments in the use of "likelihood-free" methods of Bayesian inference for complex stochastic models. Re-written to reflect this modern perspective, this second edition covers everything necessary for a good appreciation of stochastic kinetic modelling of biological networks in the systems biology context. Keeping with the spirit of the first edition, all of the new theory is presented in a very informal and intuitive manner, keeping the text as accessible as possible to the widest possible readership. New in the Second Edition All examples have been updated to Systems Biology Markup Language Level 3 All code relating to simulation, analysis, and inference for stochastic kinetic models has been re-written and re-structured in a more modular way An ancillary website provides links, resources, errata, and up-to-date information on installation and use of the associated R package More background material on the theory of Markov processes and stochastic differential equations, providing more substance for mathematically inclined readers Discussion of some of the more advanced concepts relating to stochastic kinetic models, such as random time change representations, Kolmogorov equations, Fokker-Planck equations and the linear noise approximation Simple modelling of "extrinsic" and "intrinsic" noise An effective introduction to the area of stochastic modelling in computational systems biology, this new edition adds additional mathematical detail and computational methods that will provide a stronger foundation for the development of more advanced courses in stochastic biological modelling.

This textbook focuses on stochastic analysis in systems biology containing both the theory and application. While the authors provide a review of probability and random variables, subsequent notions of biochemical reaction systems and the relevant concepts of probability theory are introduced side by side. This leads to an intuitive and easy-to-follow presentation of stochastic framework for modeling subcellular biochemical systems. In particular, the authors make an effort to show how the notion of propensity, the chemical master equation and the stochastic simulation algorithm arise as consequences of the Markov property. The text contains many illustrations, examples and exercises to illustrate the ideas and methods that are introduced. Matlab code is also provided where appropriate. Additionally, the cell cycle is introduced as a more complex case study. Senior undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics and physics as well as researchers working in the area of systems biology, bioinformatics and related areas will find this text useful.

Since the first edition of Stochastic Modelling for Systems Biology, there have been many interesting developments in the use of "likelihood-free" methods of Bayesian inference for complex stochastic models. Having been thoroughly updated to reflect this, this third edition covers everything necessary for a good appreciation of stochastic kinetic modelling of biological networks in the systems biology context. New methods and applications are included in the book, and the use of R for practical illustration of the algorithms has been greatly extended. There is a brand new chapter on spatially extended systems, and the statistical inference chapter has also been extended with new methods, including approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). Stochastic Modelling for Systems Biology, Third Edition is now supplemented by an additional software library, written in Scala, described in a new appendix to the book. New in the Third Edition New chapter on spatially extended systems, covering the spatial Gillespie algorithm for reaction diffusion master equation models in 1- and 2-d, along with fast approximations based on the spatial chemical Langevin equation Significantly expanded chapter on inference for stochastic kinetic models from data, covering ABC, including ABC-SMC Updated R package, including code relating to all of the new material New R package for parsing SBML models into simulatable stochastic Petri net models New open-source software library, written in Scala, replicating most of the functionality of the R packages in a fast, compiled, strongly typed, functional language Keeping with the spirit of earlier editions, all of the new theory is presented in a very informal and intuitive manner, keeping the text as accessible as possible to the widest possible readership. An effective introduction to the area of stochastic modelling in computational systems biology, this new edition adds additional detail and computational methods that will provide a stronger foundation for the development of more advanced courses in stochastic biological modelling.