ENGR3620: Cellular Bioengineering
Spring 2014
Alisha Sarang-Sieminski

Course Overview

This course aims to give students an appreciation of the power of using quantitative approaches to increasing our understanding of biological phenomena. Receptor-ligand binding will be considered and compared to experimental data to discuss mechanisms in cell signaling studies. Basic binding models will be expanded to consider the effect of forces in situations such as white blood cells rolling, detaching, and adhering during surveillance of blood vessels. We will consider the effects of forces from the molecular to the whole-cell level. How do cells exert force? And how can we measure those forces? How do the properties of the substrates cells attach to affect their behaviors? How can we translate observations made in the 2D environment to the 3D environment? And how are these similar and different? These concepts will be explored to study the effect of forces in cellular processes such as migration, traction generation, differentiation, signaling and gene expression.

Instructor:
Alisha Sarang-Sieminski
Room MH 256
Phone 292-2553
alisha@olin.edu
faculty.olin.edu/~asieminski

Class Sessions: Monday and Thursday 10:50-12:30, AC 417

Office Hours: By appointment (but meeting with me at any time throughout the course is strongly encouraged).