Program Manager: Dr.
Benjamin Mann
 Biology
encompasses a vast array of interconnected
phenomena spanning many decades in spatiotemporal
scale. Every biological system,
whether as complicated as the human body
or as simple as a virus, exists within
and interacts in a complex way with a
complex environment. This implies that
characterization of even simple biological
systems can only be accomplished through
acquisition of enormous data sets, built
through observations within a coordinate
space of very high dimensionality.
The Fundamental Laws of Biology (FunBio)
Program has assembled a well-balanced
team of biologists, mathematicians, and
physicists to develop a synergistic community
and common language to—
- Bring new mathematical perspectives
to biology.
- Use the stimulus of those challenges
to create new mathematics that will
reveal unanticipated structures in
large complex systems.
- Explain biological organization at
multiple scales.
- Discover the fundamental laws of
biology that span all biological scales.
The initial phase of the program focuses
on identifying key fundamental problems
in biology and promising innovative mathematical
techniques to approach these problems. Later
phases will translate this new mathematical
language into testable theories of biological
phenomenon with the goal of establishing
fundamental, predictive laws of biology.
The program will impact DoD and national
security by developing a rational and
predictive basis for doing biological
research to combat bioterrorism, maintain
healthy personnel, and discover new vaccines
and medicines.
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