The Systems Biology of COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The class will build a foundation that includes the emergence of complexity, simple biological subsystems, their reductionist and equivalent toy and organ-chip models, and the measurements required to specify model architecture and parameters. Applications to biology, physiology, medicine, chemical and biological defense, pharmacology, drug discovery, and toxicology. UGrad: PHYS 240 01 and BME 290B; Grad: PHYS 326 and BME 395C.
Will Matloff
ReplyDelete4B/Scaling in Biology
0. Knew: Bone gets thicker relative to length in order to withstand increasing weight.
1. Learned: Other examples of allometric scaling. In addition, the components of organisms, for example bones, set size limits for organisms. Even though dinosaurs were big, they couldn't be much bigger.
2. Pressing?: Are there any important exceptions?
3. Presentation: Dinosaurs.
4. Thoughts: The need for allometric scaling places limits on the function, size, and physiology of organisms.
Brian Evans
ReplyDelete4B/Scaling in Biology
0. Knew: That whales are the largest animals due to buoyancy compensating for gravitational force.
1. Learned: That an animal 10^21 times bigger than a whale is 100X the size of the earth.
2. Pressing?: I wonder if applying allometric scaling to animal strength would provide any interesting insights? (e.g. an ant can carry 10x its body weight whereas any normal human can't get near that)
3. Presentation: Were dinosaurs semi-aquatic?: A look at both sides.
4. Thoughts: I really liked the way in which magnitude was conceptualized in this paper, providing a tangible conceptualization for scaling is very helpful for accurately understanding the numbers being thrown around.
Zach Eagleton
ReplyDelete4B/Scaling in Biology
0 Knew: Basics of scaling and allometry
1 Learned: Swimming requires less energy than flying or running. More in depth look at scaling especially with respect to energy turnover.
2 Pressing ?: Dinosaurs.
3 Presentation: Brain scaling.
4 Thoughts: What effect does scaling have within species( small vs large humans) and what considerations if any should be taken when designing devices for different sizes.
Erica Curtis
ReplyDelete4B/Scaling in Biology
0. Knew: Size, metabolism, and environment are all intertwined and result in certain rules of scaling.
1. Learned: The size of insects is limited by the development of their exoskeleton. Volume, hardness of the exoskeleton during development and gravitational forces must all be considered.
2. Pressing ?: What is the safety factor of the skeleton of various animals and how does this affect their ability to interact with certain environments?
3. Presentation: Dinosaurs and Today's Animals
4. Thoughts: Structure and function greatly influence the properties of scaling.
Ayeeshik Kole
ReplyDelete4B/Scaling in Biology
0. Knew: Dinosaurs didn't live underwater. Bones get bigger as the animal gets bigger.
1. Learned: The mouse-to-elephant curve shows a fairly straight line when plotted on a log-scale. There is a proportional relationship between body mass and metabolic rate of the animal.
2. Pressing?: How do energy storage mechanisms affect the Running Velocity vs. Oxygen Consumption plot (Fig. 10)? For example, the ground squirrels abundance of brown fat.
3. Presentation: The Blue Whale
4. Thoughts: I thought this article did a good job of introducing how scaling observations and the field of allometry in biology first originated. I also liked how the author used engineering concepts of bridges and buildings to address the same questions in zoology.
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ReplyDeleteLucas Hofmeister
ReplyDelete4B/Scaling in Biology: The Consequence of Size
0. Knew: All organisms are made up of cells
1. Learned: Safety factor for human leg bones is around 10
2. Pressing?: how does evolution play into this, are there any examples/models that we can use?
3. Presentation: Scaling of convection in buildings (Termite mound)
4. Thoughts: I like the way this paper approaches the problem with design concepts such as diffusion/convection and tension vs compression