Address:Wolfgang Pauli Institute
Nordbergstr. 15, C, 7. floor (room 718)
A 1090 Wien, Austria
Telephone: (++43) (1) 4277-50718
Fax: (++43) (1) 4277-50665
Email: dietmar.oelz@univie.ac.at
Research:
The topic of my research is PDEs and Mathematical Biology, especially the modelling of cellular biophysics and analytical and numerical methods to evaluate models and apply them to real life problems. I am a member of the working group on Mathematical Cell Biology at the Faculty of Mathematics (Vienna University).
The main topic of my scientific work is to devise, analyse and simulate models of the Actin-filament network of biological cells. The Actin-skeleton is responsible for mechanical properties of the cell and in a way which is not fully understood by now, polymerisation and depolymerisation of filaments drives amoeboid migration. (for more details, have a look at this introduction.) On the mathematical side our model combines an "age-structured" model for the life-cycle of the crosslinks with a varitational principle to determine the position of the filaments. At this stage we are talking about a delay problem, whereas, after the reduction of the model by passing to the zero-lifetime limit for the crosslinks, we obtain a generalised gradient flow model. This limit model represents the shifting of filaments on top of each another as a reaction to the tension forces introduced by the polimerisation process.
In the summer of the year 2005 I spent three months at the University of Buenos Aires working with Claudia Lederman on the convergence of singularly perturbed nonlinear reaction-diffusion models to certain free boundary problems (funded by the Alfa-project of the EU).
In spring 2007 I spent four months at the ENS-Paris working under the supervision of Prof. Benoît Perthame.
In summer 2007 (July-September) I was invited as a visiting professor the the Universidad Nacionál de San Luis, Argentina (UNSL) to teach a lecture course on Applied Mathematics.
Teaching
- October 2003-June 2006 Tutor in ''UE Mathematik für Kulturtechniker I and II'' at the University of Live Sciences (BOKU), Vienna.
- August-September 2007: Lecture course in Spanish on ''Applied Mathematics (Variational Calculus, PDEs)'' at the Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Lecture notes(pdf)
- SS 2009: Mathematik für Molekulare Biologen
- Vorlesung (Nr. 300.375, 2-stdg., Vorlesungsverzeichnis) und
- Übungen (Nr. 300.376, 2-stdg., Vorlesungsverzeichnis).
Refereed Papers and preprints
- D. Oelz: On the curve straightening flow of inextensible, open, planar curves. preprint(pdf) , 2009
- D. Oelz, C. Schmeiser: Derivation of a model for symmetric lamellipodia with instantaneous cross-link turnover. preprint(pdf) , 2009
- D. Oelz, C. Schmeiser, J. V. Small: Modelling of the Actin-cytoskeleton in symmetric lamellipodial fragments. Cell Adhesion and Migration, 2/2(2008), 117 - 126 preprint(pdf) , 2008
- V. Calvez, N. Lenuzza, D. Oelz, J-Ph. Deslys, P. Laurent, F. Mouthon, B. Perthame: Bimodality, prion aggregates infectivity and prediction of strain phenomenon Preprint HAL hal-00255790 (2008).
- C. Lederman, D. Oelz: A quasilinear parabolic singular perturbation problem. Interfaces and Free Boundaries 10, No 4 (2008), p. 447–482
- J. Dolbeault, P. Markowich, D. Oelz, C. Schmeiser: Non linear Diffusions as Limit of Kinetic Equations with Relaxation Collision Kernels, Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 186(2007), 133-158,. preprint(pdf)
- D. Oelz, C. Schmeiser, A. Soreff: Multistep navigation of leukocytes: a stochastic model with memory effects , Math. Med. Biol. 22, No. 4, 291-303 (2005). preprint(pdf) , movie
Book(chapter):
- D. Oelz, C. Schmeiser: How do cells move? mathematical modelling of cytoskeleton dynamics and cell migration. In Cell mechanics: from single scale-based models to multiscale modelling, eds. A. Chauviere, L. Preziosi, and C. Verdier, Chapman and Hall / CRC Press, to appear, 2009. preprint(pdf)
Articles in Conference Proceedings:
- F. Chalub, Y. Dolak-Struss, P.A. Markowich, D. Oelz, C. Schmeiser, A. Soreff: Model hierarchies for cell aggregation by chemotaxis. Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences, Vol. 16, Supplementary Issue 1 (2006) 1173-1197 preprint(pdf)
- Diploma thesis: Modelling and simulation of Leukocyte Chemotaxis and comparison with migration experiments. Vienna, 2003
- PhD thesis: Asymptotic nonlinear models in Mathematical Physics and Biology. Vienna, 2007
Activities:
- August 2004, Workshop on Kinetic models for multiscale problems at the Banff International Research Station in Alberta.
- Workshop on Mathematical Methods and Modeling of Biophysical Phenomena organised by the IMPA, Rio de Janeiro, in February 2005
- Workshop on Bioinformatics and Biomathematics organised by the WPI, Ecole polytechnique and IPM in Teheran in April 2005 (invited talk)
- ECMTB conference on Mathematical Biology, organised by ESMTB and SMB, Dresden, July 18-22, 2005 (Poster)
- Invited talk at the International Conference ISAAC 2005 in Catania, Italy, July 25-30, 2005
- III International Symposium on Nonlinear PDEs and Free Boundary Problems in Buenos Aires, August 1st-5th, 2005
- Workshop on Cell Motility and Cytoskeletal Dynamics at the WPI, Vienna, November 2005
- Workshop on Mathematical Methods and Modeling of Biophysical Phenomena organised by the IMPA, Rio de Janeiro, in March 2006
- Life Sciences Day of the WWTF (Vienna Science and Technology Fund), June 2006 ( Poster )
- Invited talk, Modelización de la dinámica de filamentos de Actin en lamellipodias de keratocytos , Universidad Nacional de San Luis (UNSL, Argentina), 28 of July 2006, (esta charla se dio en castellano!!!)
- Participation in the EMS summer school Mathematics in Molecular Cell Biology in Linz, September 2006
- Talk at the Workshop on Mathematical Modelling of Actin-Based Motility organised by the WPI, Vienna, November 2006
- March-June 2007: Short stay at the ENS-Paris/DMA in the framework of the DEASE-Marie Curie Early Stage Training multi site.
- Apri 2007: Invited talk at the Universite de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
- July-September 2007: Visiting professor at the Universidad Nacionál de San Luis, Argentina (UNSL), invited talk in July 2007
- September 2007: Invited Talk at the Workshop on "Mathematical Methods and Modeling of Biophysical Phenomena", Buzios, Brazil. Organised by the IMPA, Rio de Janeiro.
- October 2007: Course on "Cell shape changes : Division, movements, morphogenesis" , Paris, Oct 8, 2007 to Oct 12, 2007, organised by the Institut Curie, Paris.
- March 2008: Talk on "On the curve straightening flow of planar open curves." DAMTP (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics) University of Cambridge, UK.
- April, 10-12 2008: Invited talk at the conference on "PDE and variational methods in life sciences" with the title "From the curve straightening flow in the plane to a model for the Lamellipodial Actin-cytoskeleton" at the Journées de Metz 2008, University of Metz, France.
- May 27-30, 2008: Poster at the Workshop on "Quantitative Approaches to Cell Motility and Chemotaxis" at the IMA , Minneapolis, NN.
- July-August 2008: Research stay at the Universidad Nacionál de San Luis, Argentina (UNSL). August 29th, 2008: talk with the title "On the Curve Straightening Flow of Planar Curves."
- October 2008: Research stay at the Universidad of Creta, Greece.
- February 9 to 13 2009: Conference on Mathematical Biology: Modelling and Differential Equations at the Center of Mathematical Research (CRM, Barcelona).
- March 15 to 21, 2009: Invited Talk at the conference on "Mathematical Modeling of Biophysical Phenomena", Angra dos Reis, Brazil. Organised by the IMPA, Rio de Janeiro.
- July 13 to 17, 2009: Poster at the workshop on "Multiscale Analysis of Self-Organization in Biology", Banff Internation Research Station, Canada.