2024 Faculty - Sugat Dabholkar

Brief About the Session :

Biologists use and make models for studying biological systems. In this course, you will learn about cutting-edge research of two biological systems, one about stem cell differentiation and the other about signalling between neurons in the brain. You will then make computational models for studying these systems using NetLogo software. In this course we will use experimental and computational techniques to quantitatively study biological systems. In the first two weeks we will study live stem cells in the fruit fly using state of the art fluorescence microscopy (Figure 1) and then use an existing computational model to do virtual experiments (Figure 2). In the next two weeks, you will tinker with this computational model and understand the underlying code. You will also learn about how functional imaging of calcium response is used to understand neuronal activity in the fruit fly brain (Figure 3A and 3B). We will then create new computational models from ground up using NetLogo to simulate this neuronal signal transduction. This course does not require any prior knowledge about coding, microscopy, or quantitative methods.