Principles of Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering

Catalog description

This course aims to provide theoretical and conceptual principles underlying biomolecular and biological systems. The course will start with basic and advanced concepts in physical chemistry and thermodynamics and introduce statistical mechanics as a tool to understand molecular interactions. The applications will be of relevance to bioengineering and biology disciplines. The course will not shy away from mathematical formulations and will stress the molecular perspective. This course explores physical biology of the cell across several length and timescales, while simultaneously emphasizing molecular specificity and clinical implications such as disease outcome or biomedical applications. The course emphasizes how the basic tools and insights of engineering, physics, chemistry, and mathematics can illuminate the study of molecular and cell biology to make predictive biomedical models and subject them to clinical validation. Drawing on key examples and seminal experiments from the current bioengineering literature, the course demonstrates how quantitative models can help refine our understanding of existing biological data and also be used to make useful clinical predictions. The course blends traditional models in cell biology with the quantitative approach typical in engineering, in order to introduce the student to both the possibilities and boundaries of the emerging field of physical systems biology. While teaching physical model building in cell biology through a practical, case-study approach, the course explores how quantitative modeling based on engineering principles can be used to build a more profound, intuitive understanding of cell biology. Worksheets will be integral to this course. Recitation will comprise of biweekly illustrations of problems and concepts from the worksheets and biweekly quizzes