Instability-Driven Patterns in Biology

Catalog description

Why do lungs branch like trees, zebrafish wear stripes, and bacterial colonies blossom into flower-like forms? Patterns are ubiquitous in biology, and this mini-course will trace them to a common driver: instabilities. We will introduce canonical fluid instabilities and capture their patterns in tabletop demonstrations; extend the framework to biological nematics (orientationally ordered phases of elongated elements such as DNA and epithelial sheets whose topological defects steer morphogenesis); and apply these principles to shape flows and design patterned scaffolds in synthetic and living systems. Students blend mathematical analysis with design to convert flow 'chaos' into bioengineering insight. Calculus recommended.