The papers comprising the present issue deal with quantitative and qualitative approaches in life science. They form an issue focused on formalisms, models and simulations in biology and health which has its roots in the congress on the same topic held by the French-speaking Society for Theoretical Biology (SFBT) from 14 to 17 June 2009 in Saint-Flour (France). Indeed, the central role of modelling and simulation in systems analysis of biological and physiological systems is now clearly established. Emerging disciplines, such as Systems Biology, and research programs at the international level, such as the IUPS Physiome, or European level, such as the ‘‘Virtual Physiological Human’’ (VPH), are well defined and rely extensively on methods and tools for modelling and simulation in the fields of biology and biomedical research. The SFBT was created in the early 80s with the objective to promote the development of methods and theoretical formalisms useful for understanding fundamental biological concepts as well as for biological research and practical application. At the present time, this society turns rather into mathematical biology. The strength and the originality of this society are to bring together scientists from various formations and with heterogeneous backgrounds for debating around hot topics in mathematical biology. These cross-disciplinary connections often raise interesting and fruitful discussions, and sometimes give birth to new collaborations. For most of the participants, the SFBT meeting, which takes place once a year in St Flour (France) and once every three years in a French-speaking country (Canada, Morocco), is the place where they can exchange new ideas and discover new theoretical works in mathematical biology.

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第二十九届法语理论生物学学会会议论文集

本期的论文涉及生命科学中的定量和定性方法。它们形成了一个侧重于生物学和健康中的形式主义、模型和模拟的问题，其根源在于法语理论生物学学会 (SFBT) 于 2009 年 6 月 14 日至 17 日在圣弗洛尔举行的同一主题的大会（法国）。事实上，建模和仿真在生物和生理系统的系统分析中的核心作用现在已经明确。新兴学科（如系统生物学）和国际水平的研究项目（如 IUPS 生理组）或欧洲水平的研究项目（如“虚拟生理人”（VPH））定义明确，并广泛依赖于方法和工具用于生物学和生物医学研究领域的建模和模拟。SFBT 创建于 80 年代初，旨在促进有助于理解基本生物学概念以及生物学研究和实际应用的方法和理论形式的发展。目前，这个社会更像是数学生物学。这个社会的力量和独创性是将来自不同领域和不同背景的科学家聚集在一起，围绕数学生物学的热门话题进行辩论。这些跨学科的联系通常会引发有趣且富有成效的讨论，有时还会催生新的合作。对于大多数参与者而言，SFBT 会议每年在圣面粉（法国）举行一次，在法语国家（加拿大、摩洛哥）每三年举行一次，