Fractional Models in Biology and Medicine

Fractional models have a long history in areas such as hydrology, heterogeneous media, animal movement and explorations of anomalous diffusion, to name a few. In this chapter we focus first on two applications from mathematical biology, namely fractional reaction diffusion models in pattern formation and the dynamics of chemical kinetics in a heterogeneous setting. Then we focus on two applications from physiology, namely the role of fractional diffusion in the electrical propagation of a cardiac action potential in heterogeneous tissue and how such models can be calibrated against a variety of clinical data based on, for example, Diffusion Tensor magnetic resonance imaging.