Module: 2
Sponsoring Program: BP
Administrator: Nicole Flowers
STUDY LIST INFORMATION
Course Number: BP 219
Course Name: Epistasis and Allostery: What are they? Are they real?
Units: 3
Grading Option: S/U
Course Director: Willow Coyote-Maestas
Co-director: Angela Phillips
Other Faculty: Jeanette Tenthorey
MORE COURSE INFORMATION
Dates: Monday, April 20 - Friday, May 8, 2026
Campus: MB
Location: BH 215
Schedule: Wednesdays 10am-12pm, Fridays, 1-3pm
Minimum Class Size: 6
Maximum Class Size: 12
Proteins play critical roles across life. For them to emerge, function, and diversify complex interactions are made across the residues. These have been classically described in the context of evolution as epistatic interactions, whereas in protein regulation, interactions at a distance are described as allostery. Recent high-throughput biophysics studies of the effects of mutations and other perturbations at scale have started to allow testing fundamental hypotheses about protein function; however, there are many recent disagreements on what exactly is epistasis or allostery. This has somewhat confused the field and made reading the literature challenging to say the least. The goal of this mini-course is to cover these concepts, their history, and current areas of confusion. We hope this will to a vibrant discussion where general principles for understanding what exactly these principles are and how better to study them in the future.