BIO58005-202001
Course category2020 - 2021 Fall ( 202001 )
COURSE OVERVIEW
“Superimposed on the hierarchical framework of defined components of a cell there is another layer. This second layer is highly flexible and can take on an almost infinite variety of forms, like soft and responsive flesh on a bony skeleton. The deep question is whether this higher layer in the construction of cells is itself organized. Are there hierarchies, or at least rules, in the protein-modifying, RNA splicing, gene-regulating processes of a cell? If so, then we have a chance of understanding them. If not, we will never know exactly what a cell will do next. If the detailed chemistry of the cell is simply the outcome of a historical ragbag of ad hoc interactions, then it will be no more predictable than the weather.
I do not have an answer to this question. But two features of cells might be relevant. One is a sense of time, or causation - knowledge of the way that things in the real world follow in a certain sequence. The other is integrity, which enables a cell to distinguish between what belongs to itself and what belongs to the outside world.”
- Dennis Bray, Wetware: A Computer in Every Living Cell
Integrative biology is an effective approach to resolving the complex issues we are facing in the 21st century because the solutions to the big problems that remain no longer fit into the confines of a single scientific discipline. Integrative science bridges across disciplines, biological organization, and diverse taxa over time (comparative investigations) to investigate crucial biomedical and evolutionary questions, requiring an integrative approach. Systems biology (derived from systems engineering) is one integrative biology approach used to understand the sum of the parts via their interaction by considering all of the factors which may be involved. This approach focuses on interactions as opposed to the biological entity itself and is in stark contrast to decades of reductionist biology. Consequently, this new approach has recently resulted in many different breakthrough discoveries.
This course can serve to link concepts learned in other upper level BIO courses at the sub cellular and cellular level (i.e. Biochemistry and Cell Biology) with ones focusing on the organismal level (i.e. Immunology and Genetics), and beyond (i.e. Ecology), with statistics, an engineering framework, and computational tools (i.e. Bioinformatics), required to carry out integrative research. Although there will be some overlap with these courses mentioned above this new course will focus on modeling, experimental, and computational tools required to integrate data from different fields, thus propelling the investigation in a novel direction, with a distinction from the traditional biological fields.
“Superimposed on the hierarchical framework of defined components of a cell there is another layer. This second layer is highly flexible and can take on an almost infinite variety of forms, like soft and responsive flesh on a bony skeleton. The deep question is whether this higher layer in the construction of cells is itself organized. Are there hierarchies, or at least rules, in the protein-modifying, RNA splicing, gene-regulating processes of a cell? If so, then we have a chance of understanding them. If not, we will never know exactly what a cell will do next. If the detailed chemistry of the cell is simply the outcome of a historical ragbag of ad hoc interactions, then it will be no more predictable than the weather.
I do not have an answer to this question. But two features of cells might be relevant. One is a sense of time, or causation - knowledge of the way that things in the real world follow in a certain sequence. The other is integrity, which enables a cell to distinguish between what belongs to itself and what belongs to the outside world.”
- Dennis Bray, Wetware: A Computer in Every Living Cell
Integrative biology is an effective approach to resolving the complex issues we are facing in the 21st century because the solutions to the big problems that remain no longer fit into the confines of a single scientific discipline. Integrative science bridges across disciplines, biological organization, and diverse taxa over time (comparative investigations) to investigate crucial biomedical and evolutionary questions, requiring an integrative approach. Systems biology (derived from systems engineering) is one integrative biology approach used to understand the sum of the parts via their interaction by considering all of the factors which may be involved. This approach focuses on interactions as opposed to the biological entity itself and is in stark contrast to decades of reductionist biology. Consequently, this new approach has recently resulted in many different breakthrough discoveries.
This course can serve to link concepts learned in other upper level BIO courses at the sub cellular and cellular level (i.e. Biochemistry and Cell Biology) with ones focusing on the organismal level (i.e. Immunology and Genetics), and beyond (i.e. Ecology), with statistics, an engineering framework, and computational tools (i.e. Bioinformatics), required to carry out integrative research. Although there will be some overlap with these courses mentioned above this new course will focus on modeling, experimental, and computational tools required to integrate data from different fields, thus propelling the investigation in a novel direction, with a distinction from the traditional biological fields.
DA501_IT501-202501 Introduction to Data Analytics
Course categoryFENS - PYL (202501)
Introduction to Data Analytics
DA505_IT553-202501 Intr.to Data Mod.and Process.
Course categoryFENS - PYL (202501)
Intr.to Data Mod.and Process.