Courses

Past

WINTER 2024

BIOE271: Frugal Science

As a society, we find ourselves surrounded by planetary-scale challenges ranging from lack of equitable access to health care to environmental degradation to dramatic loss of biodiversity. One common theme that runs across these challenges is the need to invent cost-effective solutions with the potential to scale. The current COVID-19 pandemic provides yet another example of such a need. In this course, participants will learn principles of frugal science to design scalable solutions with a cost versus performance rubric and explore creative means to break the accessibility barrier. Using historic and current examples, we will emphasize the importance of first-principles science to tackle design challenges with everyday building blocks. Enrollment is by application only; we will be accepting a mixed cohort of Stanford undergrad and graduate students from all schools/majors, who will team up with collaborators from across the globe to build concrete solutions to planetary-scale challenges. Come learn how to solve serious challenges with a little bit of play.

WINTER 2024

ARTSINST337/BIOE337: The Art of Observation: Table Top Explorations In Natural Philosophy

Observation plays an integral role in scientific explorations - being the first moment that inquiry begins and actively generates questions we pursue. In this class - using table top experiments and explorations in natural philosophy - we will practice the art of observation and learn to use this framework to ask questions. Amongst other approaches - the class will heavily utilize open source microscopy based tools to broadly observe microscopic life forms from various ecosystems including the ocean (plankton) and table top soft-matter experiments to uncover fascinating phenomena visible in our daily lives. This is a project based class culminating with participants making original observations and pursuing imaginative questions that spring from above.

BIOS208: Geometry for biologists

This 3-week mini-course offers a short series of lectures and lab workshops to enable researchers working with biological systems to build and play with geometric models of living processes. Lectures will be aimed at getting participants acquainted with fundamentals of differential geometry through examples of biological structures including filaments, membranes, and tissues. We will introduce the framework of discrete differential geometry with focus on numerically simulating differential equations describing curved geometries. Lab workshops will be aimed at playing with toy problems that utilize available open-source tools. Basic understanding of calculus, and differential equations, and some coding experience would be useful.

BIO214/224: Advanced Cell Biology

For Ph.D. students. Taught from the current literature on cell structure, function, and dynamics. Topics include complex cell phenomena such as cell division, apoptosis, signaling, compartmentalization, transport and trafficking, motility and adhesion, and differentiation. Weekly reading of current papers from the primary literature. Preparation of an original research proposal. Prerequisite for advanced undergraduates: BIO 129A or 160, and consent of instructor.

BIOE41: Physical Biology of Macromolecules

Principles of statistical physics, thermodynamics, and kinetics with applications to molecular biology. Topics include entropy, temperature, chemical forces, enzyme kinetics, free energy and its uses, self assembly, cooperative transitions in macromolecules, molecular machines, feedback, and accurate replication. Prerequisites: MATH 41, 42; CHEM 31A, B (or 31X); strongly recommended: PHYSICS 41, CME 100 or MATH 51, and CME 106; or instructor approval.

BIOE337: Living Soft Matter

Integrated physical biology; from molecules to organisms. Tree of life, diversity of life forms. Multi-scale/hierarchical systems in biophysics, Hierarchical self-organization. Basic theory of squishy materials, colloidal physics. Phase transitions in living soft-matter. Experimental techniques in soft-matter physics. Active fluid models for living matter. Design of self-assembling and self-organizing, biomimetic supramolecular systems.