Introduction to Systems Biology

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The goal of this course is to illuminate the elementary design principles inherent in biology. Many of the underlying principles governing the network of biochemical reactions in a living cell can be related to circuit motifs with multiple inputs/outputs, feedback and feedforward. This course draws on control theory, elementary chemistry and first-year calculus to provide a framework to discover and understand the performance of these networks. The topics examined in the course are drawn from current research and include: transcription networks, stochastic gene expression, adaptation, oscillators (circadian rhythms and the cell cycle), metabolism, pattern development, neural networks and cancer. The course is intended for advanced undergraduates in biology and engineering, but will appeal to graduate students as well. (Prerequisite course: elementary chemistry (a course such as CHEM 10171 OR CHEM 10181 ); Recommended courses: elementary calculus (a course such as MATH 10560 may be taken concurrently); OR linear algebra and differential equations (a course such as MATH 20580 may be taken concurrently.)