BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES MAJOR

Investigate the range of quantitative and other analytical techniques in biological theory and experimentation.

REQUIREMENTS 

Coding requirement for this concentration may be satisfied by COMP_SCI 150-0, STATS 201-0, GEN_ENG 150-0, GEN_ENG 151-0 COMP_SCI 110-0, COMP_SCI 111-0, or NICO 101-0 plus NICO 102-0. One unit of programming coursework may substitute for one of the two required 300-level Biol Sci electives.

Any three of the following courses:

• BIOL_SCI 323-0 Bioinformatics: Sequence & Structure Analysis - Use of informational and modeling techniques to explore evolutionary and other problems related to the genome. Prerequisites: BIOL_SCI 241-0 or BIOL_SCI 301-0.
• BIOL_SCI 337-0 Biostatistics - Highly interactive course focused on analysis of ecological data and independent projects using the opensource software program R. Prerequisites: BIOL_SCI 201-0 or BIOL_SCI 239-0 or ENVR_SCI 202-0, and MATH 218-3 or MATH 220-2.
• BIOL_SCI 338-0 Modeling Biological Dynamics - Mathematical and computational techniques for analyzing and predicting biological dynamics. Techniques include statistical models, discrete- and continuous- time dynamical models, and stochastic models. Applications cover a range of scales, with an emphasis on common mathematical concepts and computational techniques, the interpretation of existing data, and making predictions for new experiments. Prerequisites: at least one of MATH 218-1, MATH 220-1, MATH 240-0, STAT 202-0, BIOL_SCI 337-0, or equivalent.
• BIOL_SCI 354-0 Systems Biology - Random processes, gene regulation, cell adaptation, developmental processes, genomics. Prerequisites: BIOL_SCI 202-0 or BIOL_SCI 240-0.
• BIOL_SCI 359-0 Quantitative Experimentation in Biology - This course is taught as four modules, in which students replicate experiments from some of the landmark papers in the history of quantitative biology. Groups of students will work together and learn how to perform experiments in a wet lab setting, perform live imaging, conduct sequencing-based studies, analyze their own data, and present results in a professional manner. Prerequisites: BIOL_SCI 202-0 or BIOL_SCI 240-0, or BIOL_SCI 354-0.
• BIOL_SCI 378-0 Functional Genomics - Patterns of gene expression and their causes. Prerequisites: BIOL_SCI 203-0 or BIOL_SCI 241-0.
• Chem_Eng_379-0 Computational Biology: Analysis and Design of Living Systems - Introduction to the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling, and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological systems. 
• ES_APPM_372-0 Introduction to the Analysis of RNA Sequencing Data -This course will give an introduction to the theory and practice of analyzing high-throughput RNA sequencing through lectures and hands-on exercises. The basic topics covered will include: 1) the format of/working with raw sequencing data; 2) aligning reads to a reference genome; 3) the format of/working with aligned SAM/BAM files; 4) different ways to perform read-based gene counting; 4) How to visually explore reads and read counts; 5) variance shrinkage and principal components; 6) The theory of/doing differential expression analysis. Additional topics will be covered as time permits, based in part upon the interests of the course participants.

Concentration Checklist

Computational & Systems Biology Concentration Checklist

2026-27 Course Offerings in this Concentration*

*Course schedule considered tentative until published in Caesar