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The emerging therapeutic landscape has a new cast of characters' engineered cells, programmable nucleic acids, and multi-valent antibodies' to name a few. This lecture-based course will provide an overview of these new therapeutic modalities, the basic science guiding their development, and a discussion of new regulatory and safety challenges that emerge in these modalities. As a final project, students will produce a report spanning the preclinical and clinical development of a new therapy. Examples include CRISPR-edited cell therapies, bispecific T cell engagers, in vivo CRISPR base editors, and antisense oligo therapies.

This three week mini-course explores virology, emergent outbreaks, and related stigma that has historically and perpetually impacted LGBTQ+ communities. Using lectures and open discussions, students will explore how significant viruses and related stigmas have shaped LGBTQ+ communities from a historical/academic perspective and the generational perspective through lived experiences. Join us on a queer journey through the past and present, and look forward with discussions on how we as LGBTQ+ scientists, practitioners, and allies can shape the future.

Altruism is the phenomenon in which one organism helps another organism at a cost to itself. Most of the existing body of research on the evolution of altruism does not account for the ecological context and impacts of the evolution of altruistic traits. In this course we will examine experiments, field studies, and mathematical models on the ecology and evolution of altruism. Students will learn the foundational theories for why altruism evolves, learn how to assess existing models based on whether they are testable and generalizable, and predict how altruistic behaviors shape and are shaped by ecological interactions. This course is open to theoreticians and empiricists.

Discover the power of the breath to reach a meditative state of mind. Combine meditation with activities that inspire connection and purpose through community building and mindful leadership. Learn through breathwork, meditation, lecture, class discussion, experiential learning, and yoga. The cornerstone of the course is evidence-based SKY Meditation technique that uses the breath to quiet the mind, supporting a deep experience of meditation and a practical approach to happiness.

In evolutionary theory, the standard 'fitness' considers the operation of selection over a single generation. Some researchers use a poorly-quantified term, 'evolvability', to describe the latent ability of organisms to evolve over multiple generations. Does evolvability itself evolve? Can we tease apart the concepts of short-term fitness and long-term evolvability? Can we quantitatively define a 'long-term fitness' that is as general and practical as the standard fitness? What entities (individuals? genotypes? species?) can be said to possess evolvability? This seminar will debate these questions as we study papers ranging from theoretical biology, to concepts in "evo-devo", to recent experimental work in microbiology and in silico models.

Introduction to the social science literature on factors contributing to gender disparities in the scientific workplace (e.g. implicit bias and stereotype threat). Discussions focus on steps that individuals and institutions can take to promote the advancement of women and other underrepresented groups in science, and thus promote the advancement of science.

This 3-week course will help students understand how lifestyle and wellness choices impact their physiology using a data-driven approach powered by wearable technology (e.g. Fitbit, Apple Watch, Oura ring). Students will be exposed to leading wellness practices and assess their own smartwatch data to look at real-time physiological responses to wellness interventions such as diet, exercise, awareness meditation, laughter yoga, inquiry-based stress reduction, priming, gratitude and relationship building practices. This course will bring in academic experts and popular wellness leaders including the founder of Laughter Yoga, Dr. Madan Kataria, to learn about cutting edge research and innovation in mental health, and to experience these practices first hand through immersive workshops. The capstone project of the course will involve analyzing personal and class-level anonymized wearable device data to quantify the physiological impacts.

RNA sequencing (RNAseq) is a powerful and increasingly popular tool that is used to investigate a variety of biological questions across the tree of life. However, while commercially available solutions have made the bench work associated with RNAseq easier than ever, the planning and analysis of an RNAseq experiment require considerable bioinformatics knowledge. In this course, students will learn how to design and analyze both single cell and bulk RNAseq experiments with topics including: quality control, mapping, read counting, identification of differentially expressed genes, gene set enrichment analysis, clustering and annotation, pseudotime, and advanced topics. Computer lab workshops will be incorporated to supplement lecture material and allow students to work on their own data.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms are now widely available, and often require little training or technical expertise. This mini-course focuses on responsible development and use of AI in healthcare. Focus is on the critical analysis of AI systems, and the evolving policy and regulatory landscape. Week one covers modern AI capabilities, including computer vision, natural language processing, and reinforcement learning. Weeks two and three focus on assessing AI systems (including robustness, bias, privacy, and interpretability) and applications (including radiology, suicide prevention, and end-of-life care). Throughout this course students will develop and evaluate a hypothetical AI system. No programming experience is required.