A new nitmb.org

Coming this summer

Upcoming Events

Wednesdays

Work-In-Progress
3:30PM

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Fridays

NITMB Seminar Series
10:00AM

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Workshop

Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation: Mathematical Foundations

June 15 - 18, 2026

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Workshop

Extreme Events in Biological Function

June 1 - 5, 2026

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Science + Tea

Mon - Fri at 3pm when office is open

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Calls for Proposals

Workshops

Scientific Long Programs

News

Watch: Moumita Das on uncovering the physical principles of biological cells and tissues with AI and Math

Discover research uncovering the physical principles of biological cells and tissues with AI and math! Moumita Das is a Professor of physics at the Rochester Institute of Technology. At NITMB, she was co-organizer of the 'Expanding the Palette of Mathematics in Biology' workshop. Learn more and watch talk recordings from this workshop. Credits: Human elbow joint anatomy graphic courtesy of Magnific: https://www.magnific.com/free-vector/human-elbow-joint-anatomy-illustration_2

Utilizing interdisciplinary approaches to study physiological and pathological processes: A conversation with Ning Wei

Meet Ning Wei, assistant professor of mathematics at Purdue University!

Nature might have a universal rhythm

From insects to birds to mammals, research from NITMB community members Guy Amichay and Daniel Abrams demonstrates that communication signals follow a common tempo

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Want NITMB
to come to you?

Let us know if we can visit you to
tell your researchers about NITMB.

Contact Julie Des Jardins (julie.desjardins@northwestern.edu)

What is the NSF-Simons NITMB?

The NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology (NITMB) aims to integrate the disciplines of mathematics and biology in order to transform the practice of biological research and to inspire new mathematical discoveries.

NITMB is a partnership between Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. It is funded by the National Science Foundation DMS-2235451 and the Simons Foundations MP-TMPS-00005320.

The mission of the NITMB is to create a nationwide collaborative research community that will generate new mathematical results and uncover the “rules of life” through theories, data-informed mathematical models, and computational and statistical tools. The NITMB leverages close collaborations between experimentalists and theorists to synergize discovery. The fundamental research done by NITMB will stimulate advances in areas as diverse as the environment, medicine, and technology development. NITMB members and visitors share space in downtown Chicago that is readily accessible to collaborators across the U.S. and the world.

Convening activities are critical for bridging gaps between mathematics and biology, and for uniting these disciplines over major questions of common interest. They are organized around broad conceptual themes common to mathematics and biology and highlight opportunities for mathematicians to develop new mathematics that have a direct impact on biology research.

These are open to participants from institutions worldwide, and aim to include researchers from both disciplines. Activities are designed to encourage discovery, stimulate collaborations among participants, and build a dialogue concerning the practice of research by mathematicians and biologists. These are held at the NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology located in the John Hancock Center in downtown Chicago, IL.

A crowd of researchers attending the Emerging Directions workshop

Two workshop participants talking to each other in front of a chalkboard

Realizing our vision requires combining biological experimentation and new theories grounded in mathematics. Research supported by the NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology is structured so that theorists and experimentalists collaborate on experimental design and data analysis, as well as modeling. NITMB research also supports the development of new mathematics inspired by biology.

A NITMB Research Trainee Program supports NITMB researchers and brings together trainees and faculty from participating institutions.

NITMB's innovative research program is organized around five interrelated themes, selected because they reflect key capabilities of biological systems and interconnect with open mathematical problems. These themes establish bridges across sub-disciplines of biological and mathematical sciences, ensuring that research in one domain will support advances in the others. The themes also reflect our cross-disciplinary organizational structure, insuring that our training and community-building activities foster deep interactions across disciplines.

A workshop participant points to a section of a poster and speaks while another participant listens

Students who intend to work at the math/biology interface must not only acquire skills from both disciplines, but also develop an intuition for how this knowledge can be applied across disciplinary boundaries. Developing this fluency begins at the K-12 level, when students learn to formulate questions in mathematical terms and use mathematics as a language to reason about the world. It can then continue into their college education, when young scholars must learn increasingly sophisticated techniques that do not fall neatly into disciplinary silos. Structural inequalities create disadvantages that impact students, teachers and schools, ultimately reducing the wealth of creativity in the scientific workforce.

The NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology is uniquely positioned to address these needs and has a set of programs to tackle the challenges.

A new nitmb.org

Coming this summer

Upcoming Events

Calls for Proposals

News

Watch: Moumita Das on uncovering the physical principles of biological cells and tissues with AI and Math

Utilizing interdisciplinary approaches to study physiological and pathological processes: A conversation with Ning Wei

Nature might have a universal rhythm

Want NITMB to come to you? Let us know if we can visit you to tell your researchers about NITMB. Contact Julie Des Jardins (julie.desjardins@northwestern.edu)

What is the NSF-Simons NITMB?

Want NITMB
to come to you?

Let us know if we can visit you to
tell your researchers about NITMB.

Contact Julie Des Jardins (julie.desjardins@northwestern.edu)