The mission of the Quantitative Biology Consortium at the University of Arizona is to apply methods of mathematics, physics, computation and statistics in combination with biological approaches to understand the fundamental principles of life and their implications for human health and disease.

Established in 2005, the QBC coordinates several existing activities in this area, as well as developing new initiatives. Its responsibilities fall in three broad and overlapping areas: quantitative biology, which emphasizes approaches using mathematical modeling and experimental biophysics; statistics and biostatistics; and bioinformatics and biological computing.

The formation of the QBC builds on existing strengths at the University of Arizona in a wide range of interdisciplinary activities involving quantitative biology. These strengths include a long history of related work in departments as diverse as Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physiology, Mechanical Engineering, Physics and Mathematics; a well-established system of interdisciplinary graduate programs; the Arizona Research Laboratories which has several units focusing on related areas; and an intellectual atmosphere that encourages extensive collaborations across traditional boundaries.

Existing QBC activities include a postdoctoral program, a predoctoral training program administered by the Biology, Mathematics and Physics Initiative (BMPI), a biostatistics internship program, development of an interdisciplinary graduate program in statistics, recruitment of a senior statistician, and programs of seminars and conferences.

The QBC is part of BIO5 (The University of Arizona Institute for Collaborative Bioresearch), which has the overall goal of developing collaborative research in the biosciences at the University of Arizona.