This course illustrates how knowledge and principles of biology, biochemistry, and engineering are integrated to create new products for societal benefit. It uses a case study format to examine recently developed products of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries: how a product evolves from initial idea, through patents, testing, evaluation, production, and marketing. Emphasizes scientific and engineering principles; the responsibility scientists, engineers, and business executives have for the consequences of their technology; and instruction and practice in written and oral communication.
The topic focus of this class will vary from year to year. This version looks at inflammation underlying many diseases, specifically its role in cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

This course covers sensing and measurement for quantitative molecular/cell/tissue analysis, in terms of genetic, biochemical, and biophysical properties. Methods include light and fluorescence microscopies; electro-mechanical probes such as atomic force microscopy, laser and magnetic traps, and MEMS devices; and the application of statistics, probability and noise analysis to experimental data. Enrollment preference is given to juniors and seniors.

In this course problems from biological engineering are used to develop structured computer programming skills and explore the theory and practice of complex systems design and construction.
The official course Web site can be viewed at: BE.180 Biological Engineering Programming.

The MIT Biology Department supports TAs’ teaching by providing a specialized Teaching Assistant (TA) training program in Biology Pedagogy, for which TAs can earn a training certificate. This program has been developed in response to the feedback of previous TAs, and is designed to actively meet each TA’s needs as they are teaching. It provides practical knowledge that directly relates to their teaching responsibilities each week, and provides them with the opportunity to practice different skills and techniques in a supportive environment.

This course covers the principles of materials science and cell biology underlying the design of medical implants, artificial organs, and matrices for tissue engineering. Methods for biomaterials surface characterization and analysis of protein adsorption on biomaterials. Molecular and cellular interactions with biomaterials are analyzed in terms of unit cell processes, such as matrix synthesis, degradation, and contraction. Mechanisms underlying wound healing and tissue remodeling following implantation in various organs. Tissue and organ regeneration. Design of implants and prostheses based on control of biomaterials-tissue interactions. Comparative analysis of intact, biodegradable, and bioreplaceable implants by reference to case studies. Criteria for restoration of physiological function for tissues and organs.

Students will learn about the use of biomaterials to create advanced diagnostic tools for detection of infectious and chronic diseases, restore insulin production to supplement lost pancreatic function in diabetes, provide cells with appropriate physical, mechanical, and biochemical cues to direct tissue regeneration, and enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.
This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.

Analyzes computational needs of clinical medicine reviews systems and approaches that have been used to support those needs, and the relationship between clinical data and gene and protein measurements. Topics: the nature of clinical data; architecture and design of healthcare information systems; privacy and security issues; medical expertsystems; introduction to bioinformatics. Case studies and guest lectures describe contemporary systems and research projects. Term project using large clinical and genomic data sets integrates classroom topics.

This course provides intensive coverage of the theory and practice of electromechanical instrument design with application to biomedical devices. Students will work with MGH doctors to develop new medical products from concept to prototype development and testing. Lectures will present techniques for designing electronic circuits as part of complete sensor systems. Topics covered include: basic electronics circuits, principles of accuracy, op amp circuits, analog signal conditioning, power supplies, microprocessors, wireless communications, sensors, and sensor interface circuits. Labs will cover practical printed circuit board (PCB) design including component selection, PCB layout, assembly, and planning and budgeting for large projects. Problem sets and labs in the first six weeks are in support of the project. Major team-based design, build, and test project in the last six weeks. Student teams will be composed of both electrical engineering and mechanical engineering students.

This course consists of a series of seminars focused on the development of professional skills. Each semester focuses on a different topic, resulting in a repeating cycle that covers medical ethics, responsible conduct of research, written and oral technical communication, and translational issues. Material and activities include guest lectures, case studies, interactive small group discussions, and role-playing simulations.

This seminar based course explores techniques for recognizing, analyzing, and resolving ethical dilemmas facing healthcare professionals and biomedical researchers in today’s highly regulated environment. Guest lectures by practicing clinicians, technologists, researchers, and regulators will include case studies, interactive small group discussions, and role-playing simulations. Professional conduct topics will include authorship, conflict of interest, data acquisition and management, and the protection of human subjects and animals involved in research programs.

This course teaches the design of contemporary information systems for biological and medical data. Examples are chosen from biology and medicine to illustrate complete life cycle information systems, beginning with data acquisition, following to data storage and finally to retrieval and analysis. Design of appropriate databases, client-server strategies, data interchange protocols, and computational modeling architectures. Students are expected to have some familiarity with scientific application software and a basic understanding of at least one contemporary programming language (e.g. C, C++, Java, Lisp, Perl, Python). A major term project is required of all students. This subject is open to motivated seniors having a strong interest in biomedical engineering and information system design with the ability to carry out a significant independent project.
This course was offered as part of the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) program as course number SMA 5304.

This course presents the fundamentals of digital signal processing with particular emphasis on problems in biomedical research and clinical medicine. It covers principles and algorithms for processing both deterministic and random signals. Topics include data acquisition, imaging, filtering, coding, feature extraction, and modeling. The focus of the course is a series of labs that provide practical experience in processing physiological data, with examples from cardiology, speech processing, and medical imaging. The labs are done in MATLAB® during weekly lab sessions that take place in an electronic classroom. Lectures cover signal processing topics relevant to the lab exercises, as well as background on the biological signals processed in the labs.

Biomimetics is based on the belief that nature, at least at times, is a good engineer. Biomimesis is the scientific method of learning new principles and processes based on systematic study, observation and experimentation with live animals and organisms. This Freshman Advising Seminar on the topic is a way for freshmen to explore some of MIT’s richness and learn more about what they may want to study in later years.

This course focuses on feedback control mechanisms that living organisms implement at the molecular level to execute their functions, with emphasis on techniques to design novel systems with prescribed behaviors. Students will learn how biological functions can be understood and designed using notions from feedback control.

This subject deals primarily with kinetic and equilibrium mathematical models of biomolecular interactions, as well as the application of these quantitative analyses to biological problems across a wide range of levels of organization, from individual molecular interactions to populations of cells.

Black feminist health science studies is a critical intervention into a number of intersecting arenas of scholarship and activism, including feminist health studies, contemporary medical curriculum reform conversations, and feminist technoscience studies. We argue towards a theory of Black feminist health science studies that builds on social justice science, which has as its focus the health and well-being of marginalized groups. Students will engage feminist science theories such as the linguistic metaphors of the immune system, the medicalization of race, and critiques of the sexual binary. We will use contemporary as well as historical moments to investigate the evolution of “scientific truth” and its impact on the U.S. cultural landscape.

Interdisciplinary survey of people of African descent that draws on the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. This course connects the experiences of African-Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns.

Interdisciplinary survey of people of African descent that draws on the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. This course connects the experiences of African-Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns.

BLOSSOMS stands for Blended Learning Science or Math Studies. It is a project sponsored by MIT LINC (Learning International Networks Consortium) a consortium of educators from around the world who are interested in using distance and e-Learning technologies to help their respective countries increase access to quality education for a larger percentage of the population.
BLOSSOMS Online

This course is for students wishing to explore blockchain technology’s potential use—by entrepreneurs and incumbents—to change the world of money and finance. The course begins with a review of Bitcoin and an understanding of the commercial, technical, and public policy fundamentals of blockchain technology, distributed ledgers, and smart contracts. The class then continues on to current and potential blockchain applications in the financial sector.