MIT Media Laboratory

 
Media Lab Colorbar

Silicon Biology MAS.962

Fall 2001


Instructors
Professors Scott Manalis, Joseph Jacobson, and Shuguang Zhang

Fall 2001: MAS 962 Silicon Biology

Student Directory

Course Description

Class Schedule: Part I | Part II | Part III

Meeting:


Prerequisite:

Credit Hours:

Thursdays, 10:00 am- 12:00 pm
E15-054

Permission of instructor

9 units H-Level


This course explores recent developments at the interface of nanotechnology, surface chemistry, and biology. The course begins with introductory lectures on silicon fabrication, chemistry, and molecular biology and continues with a series of in-depth lectures on field-effect devices, solid-liquid interfaces, techniques for surface analysis and modification, nanopore characterization of biopolymers, and protein microarrays. The final section of the class will focus on using biology to build molecular machines, molecular assemblers, and computers.


 

Outline















Sept 6 |
Micro- and nanofabrication
Sept 13 |
Mechanical biosensors
Sept 20 |
Field-Effect Sensors
Sept 27 |
Solid - Liquid Interface
Oct 4 |
Surface Analysis and patterning
Oct 11 |
Protein microarrays
Oct 18 |
Nanochemistry
Oct 25 |
New Understandings in Molecular Biology
Nov 1 |
BioAssemblers and Bio-Molecular
Machines
Nov 8 |
The Genetic Switch
Nov 15 |
The Immune System
Nov 29 |
Strategies Against Disease
Dec 6 |
Nueronal Logic
Dec 11 |
Final Project
   

Class Schedule
10 - 10:15 Problem set, 10:15 - 11:45 Lecture, 11:45 - 12:30 Research presentations
(lunch will be served at 11:45)

 

Grading
50% class participation, 50% final project

Problem Sets
Problem sets will be handed out on a weekly basis and volunteers will be selected to present selected problems during the first 15 minutes of each class. Students are encouraged to work in teams. Please make sure to arrive a few minutes before 10am.

 

Final Project Description
Each team will be required to generate a novel proposal in an area of relevance to the domain of the course. The proposal should be described in sufficient detail (i.e. design, fab steps, chemical synthesis) to actually carry out the proposal. The deliverable for the final project is a powerpoint presentation (10-15 slides) laying out the basic proposal, what problem the proposal addresses or solves, experimental detail for how the proposal will be brought into reality and potential impact and applications of the proposal. Each team will present their proposal on Final Project Day, Tuesday, December 11th.

Teams are strongly encouraged to pursue projects which are either 1] Disruptive in nature and change some fundamental paradigm in the field (i.e. sequence the genome in a day, amplify proteins etc.) or 2] Can be backed up with actual experimental results or preliminary demonstration of the proposal.

Target team size is four people with the requirement that at least one of the team members come from a different technical backgrounds (i.e. two people from engineering and two from biology). Teams are required to submit a list of team members and a one paragraph project summary by November 8th.

 


Related Links:

Silicon Biology

Silicon Biology Home

NanoScale Sensing

nanoscale graphic

Molecular Machines

printed circuit pattern 350 image