Maarten Droste

m.j.droste[at]vu.nl

Emergent behaviour of complex biological systems can be understood from mathematical modeling. These methods allows for a description in terms general principles governing their dynamics. With this approach I am trying to grasp the behaviour of dynamical systems in nature.

I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics and a Master’s degree in Theoretical Physics, with a Master’s Profile in Complex Systems, all at Utrecht University. During my Master’s, I studied climate-economy models, and for my Master Thesis I investigated a predator-prey model described by stochastic Lotka-Volterra equations. During these research projects I gained experience in applying both numerical and analytical methods. My interdisciplinary background allows me to study different problems from a mathematical viewpoint, while remaining close to the fundamental principles.

For my PhD, I have switched to more biological problems. I am trying to understand general principles and determinants of growth of single-celled organisms. I am using a mathematical framework in terms of ODEs and optimization problems to study growth-optimizing metabolic strategies that are determined by both intra- and extracellular factors. I mainly use mechanistic and kinetic toy models with thermodynamics to describe these determinants of optimal strategies. We are asking questions like: What is the relation between the growth rate and energy dissipation by the cell, in terms of optimality? How can diffusion of extracellular substrates and products determine optimal strategies? Can interactions like cross-feeding change the optimal strategy, for example in terms of the optimal pathway length?