Jens Timmer
Biography
Jens Timmer has studied Physics at the Universities of Oldenburg and Freiburg. He received his Ph.D. in 1994 from the University of Freiburg. Since this time, he is leading the research group “Data Analysis and Modelling of Dynamic Processes in the Life Sciences''. During his postdoc research, he was visiting scientist at Boulder University, ETH Lausanne, New York University, Humboldt University, Max-Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, and the Universities of Potsdam and Heidelberg. Since 2005, he is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Freiburg. He is speaker of the German Systems Biology Competence Network HepatoSys and member of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Data Analysis and Modelling as well as the Centre for Systems Biology at the University of Freiburg. He is vice-speaker of the Freiburg Initiative for Systems Biology.
Research Interest
Jens Timmer's research focuses on the development and interdisciplinary application of mathematical methods to analyse and model dynamical processes in biology and medicine. Dynamic processes are ubiquitous in the life sciences. They can be found from the regulation in cells up to oscillations in tremor. Malfunction of these dynamical processes can be a cause or a sign of diseases. In interdisciplinary projects, his group develops and applies mathematical methods to analyse and model these processes based on measured data. The final aim is to help to turn the life sciences from a qualitative descriptive into a quantitative predictive science.