The following BioE course is open to undergrads, and may be interesting to CSE majors.
Bioengineering 555: Cellular and Molecular Biomechanics and Cell Function
This course elucidates the basic mechanisms underlying cell function with emphasis on motion. This unique course has been appreciated for its mildly heretical and provocative approach: students claim to have learned as much about the process of doing science as about the basis of cell function. The principles elucidated in the course are fundamental, and have far-reaching consequences for many areas of science and engineering.
Spring Qtr. ‘09
M, W, F, 9:30-10:20;
Physics/Astronomy Auditorium A212.
3 Credits
Undergrads welcome!
Gerald H. Pollack
ghp@u.washington.edu
We begin from first principles of physics and chemistry, building progressively to organelle structure and function. Emphasis is given to the gel-like nature of the cell, and the critically important role of cell water. We see how this leads directly to the various types of cellular and molecular motions, from transport, streaming, mitosis, to muscle contraction and cell motility. This unique course has been appreciated for its mildly heretical and provocative approach: students claim to have learned as much about the process of doing science as about the basis of cell function. The principles elucidated in the course are fundamental, and have far-reaching consequences for many areas of science and engineering.
Course material intersects several sub-disciplines:
• molecular function and cell biology: surface-induced ordering of water, gel behavior, and the role these phenomena may play in motion generation and other basic cellular processes;
• biomaterials: materials surfaces, polymer gels, phase transitions – and their unexpected significance in cell function;
• biomechanics: molecular basis of stresses and strains;
• instrumentation: methodologies ranging from nanofabricated transducers to optical traps.
Prerequisites: A course in basic biology or physiology is helpful but not essential. The course is appropriate for anyone in a scientific or engineering discipline.
Main text: Pollack (2001): Cells, Gels and the Engines of Life (cf. http://cellsandgels.com/). This best-selling, user-friendly book has won several awards, and is used as a didactic tool at many universities. It has been labeled by Harvard biologist Don Ingber as “a 305-page preface to the future of cell biology.”