UD - Mathematical Sciences
David A. Edwards, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Associate Chair
Department of Mathematical Sciences
University of Delaware
511 Ewing Hall
Newark, DE 19716-2553
Phone: (302) 831-1871
Fax: (302) 831-4511
E-Mail: edwards@math.udel.edu
Web Site: http://www.math.udel.edu/~edwards
Education:
Ph.D., Applied Mathematics, California Institute of Technology, 1994
B.S., Applied Mathematics, California Institute of Technology, 1990
Biological Research Interests:
Dr. Edwards' research interests lie in the areas of transport effects in biochemical reactions and ion channel distributions in olfactory cilia.
Many biochemical reactions occur in thin reaction zones (along the surface of a cell, for instance). In order to better understand these systems, a detailed mathematical model is needed to include both the reaction processes and the transport near these layers. Dr. Edwards' work focuses on the study of the BIAcore, which is an experimental device used to measure rate constants of such reactions, but the work is immediately applicable to biological systems.
When you smell something, odorant molecules react with receptors in the nose. These chemical signals are then transduced into electrical signals via ion channels in olfactory cilia membranes. The number and position of these channels are of intense interest, but the only measurable quantity of interest is the current of the electrical signal. Hence the system poses an ill-conditioned inverse problem which can be studied asymptotically and numerically. Since September 1997, Dr. Edwards has been at the University of Delaware. Prior to joining the University, he worked as a visiting assistant professor at the Courant Institute at NYU from 1994 to 1995, and at the University of Maryland from 1995-1997.