Systems Biology
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this graduate-level course on mathematical modeling in biology, covering molecular, cellular, and developmental systems biology. Topics include bacterial chemotaxis, genetic oscillators, control theory applied to genetic networks, and gradient sensing systems. Students work through constructing and modeling genetic networks, the lambda phage genetic switch, synthetic genetic switches, circadian rhythms, reaction diffusion equations, local activation and global inhibition models, center finding networks, pattern formation models, cell-cell communication, quorum sensing, and models of Drosophila development. Key experiments that validate each mathematical model are discussed alongside the theory. Materials include lecture notes, problem sets, and readings drawn from primary research literature, all freely downloadable under a Creative Commons license. No certificate is offered, consistent with MIT OpenCourseWare's format.