Omics Fundamentals

Modern research in the life sciences is an increasingly interdisciplinary endeavor where new fields of study have developed at the interfaces of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science. In many instances, the development of these new fields goes hand in hand with development of new experimental approaches to surveying the content of the cell. While traditional molecular cell biology and biochemistry courses often focus on the basic details of cell physiology and macromolecular (DNA, lipid, protein) structures, they too often neglect the quantitative aspects of number, scale, forces, etc. that are crucial to providing a larger context within living systems. This course aims at reframing the basic concepts of cell and molecular biology in a quantitative context and providing a basic overview of some of the key approaches used to develop a quantitative framework inside the cell. How this detailed information can then be applied to bioinformatics research problems will also be explored.