Module: 2
Sponsoring Program: BP
Administrator: Nicole Flowers

STUDY LIST INFORMATION
Course Number: BP 219
Course Name: Mathematical Biology
Units: 3
Grading Option: S/U
Course Director: Michael Grabe
Co-director: Leor Weinberger

MORE COURSE INFORMATION
Other Faculty: Catera Wilder
Dates: April 21, 2025 - May 9, 2025
Campus: MB
Location: BH 313
Schedule: Week 1 & 2: M/T/W/TH, 2:00pm-4:00pm. Week 3: M/T, 2:00pm-4:00pm
Minimum Class Size: 8
Maximum Class Size: 16

Overall, this course is designed to help students analyze kinetic time-series data and build simple, minimalist models to exclude hypotheses from the data. Ideally, such models will also help predict new experiments.  To achieve this, the course will cover seminal topics in mathematical biology ranging from cell-cycle oscillations and excitable systems to ultra sensitivity and stochastic systems (10 lectures total). All systems will fall into the form of coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs, both deterministic and stochastic), which most biology students will have likely encountered briefly in undergraduate while math and physics students will have more experience. That said, previous experience with ODEs is not required for this class, as we will focus on setting up the equations and solving them numerically on the computer rather than solving proofs and identifying solutions analytically by hand.  
 
We will use the mathematical software package Berkeley Madonna to set up and solve all systems. If you are more comfortable with another package such as Matlab, Mathematica, etc, you can use that instead (but it is not recommended). As the instructors construct mathematical models at the front of the room, students will follow along and create, solve, and explore the properties of the model on their own computer. 
 
Note: The best way to learn is through doing problems so we will assign homework.  You may work in teams of two but no more. At the beginning of class, homework problems will be reviewed (i.e., presented by students) in a rotating manner (so you will definitely present your homework once during the course).