Quantitative Systems Biology
The second semester freshman course, Quantitative Systems Biology applies the theme of modeling to core concepts in evolution, physiology and functional morphology, and ecology. Cutting-edge research in each of these fields relies heavily on mathematical modeling to understand how organisms function, interact with their environments, and change over evolutionary time. Too often students fail to see that mathematical models are tools that scientists use for thinking abstractly about biological concepts. This course directly addresses this problem through a combination of lectures that integrate applied math and the study of organism-level systems and labs in which students use in silico, in vitro and in vivo models to investigate those systems in detail. The course will be organized into three modules that flow naturally from one to the next: evolution (the genotype), comparative physiology and functional morphology (the phenotype), and ecology (organismal and environmental interactions).