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Courses 2025-2026
BE 1. Frontiers in Bioengineering.
1 unit; first term.
A weekly seminar series by Caltech faculty providing an introduction to research directions in the field of bioengineering and an overview of the courses offered in the Bioengineering option. Graded pass/fail.
Instructor: Bois
Bi/BE 24. Scientific Communication for Biological Scientists and Engineers.
6 units (3-0-3); third term.
The goal of this class is to improve your ability, as scientific researchers, to communicate your research to fellow scientists both in and outside your field, as well as to the general public. Students will practice technical scientific writing in journal paper format, presentation of research to scientific communities, oral communication of research to scientists and non-scientists, and peer review of scientific communications. Fulfills the Institute scientific writing requirement.
Instructor: Staff
BE/Bi 25. Biophysical Chemistry.
9 units (3-0-6); second term.
Prerequisites: Ch 1 ab, Ma 2.
This course develops principles of solution thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, and transport processes applied to living systems.
Instructor: Bois
BE 98. Undergraduate Research in Bioengineering.
Variable units, as arranged with the advising faculty member; first, second, third terms.
Undergraduate research with a written report at the end of each term; supervised by a Caltech faculty member, or co-advised by a Caltech faculty member and an external researcher. Graded pass/fail. May not be taken after BE 99.
Instructor: Staff
BE 99 abc. Senior Thesis in Bioengineering.
6 or more units per term with a three-term total of at least 27 units; first, second, third terms.
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing and instructor's permission.
Research in Bioengineering, supervised by a Caltech faculty member, culminating in a thesis. The topic is determined by the research adviser and the student and is subject to approval by the Bioengineering faculty. The first and second terms are taken pass/fail and require a written report at the end of each term. The third term is taken on grades and requires completion of a thesis and final presentation. The last two terms must be completed in the final year of study. Total units arranged with the advising faculty member.
Instructor: Staff
BE/Bi 103 a. Introduction to Data Analysis in the Biological Sciences.
9 units (1-3-5); first term.
Prerequisites: Bi 1 or equivalent; CS 1, BE/Bi/NB 203, or equivalent; or instructor's permission.
This course covers tools needed to analyze quantitative data in biological systems. Students learn basic programming topics, data organization and wrangling, data display and presentation, parameter estimation, and resampling-based statistical inference. Students analyze real data in class and in homework.
Instructor: Bois
BE/Bi 103 b. Statistical Inference in the Biological Sciences.
9 units (1-3-5); second term.
Prerequisites: BE/Bi 103 a or equivalent; Ma 1 abc and Ma 3, or Bi/CNS/NB 195, or equivalent; or instructor's permission.
This course introduces students to statistical modeling and inference, primarily taking a Bayesian approach. Topics include generative modeling, parameter estimation, model comparison, hierarchical modeling, Markov chain Monte Carlo, graphical display of inference results, and principled workflows. Other topics may also be included. All techniques are applied to real biological data sets in class and in homework.
Instructor: Bois
BE 107. Exploring Biological Principles Through Bio-Inspired Design.
9 units (3-5-1); third term.
Students will formulate and implement an engineering project designed to explore a biological principle or property that is exhibited in nature. Students will work in small teams in which they build a hardware platform that is motivated by a biological example in which a given approach or architecture is used to implement a given behavior. Alternatively, the team will construct new experimental instruments in order to test for the presence of an engineering principle in a biological system. Example topics include bio-inspired control of motion (from bacteria to insects), processing of sensory information (molecules to neurons), and robustness/fault-tolerance. Each project will involve proposing a specific mechanism to be explored, designing an engineering system that can be used to demonstrate and evaluate the mechanism, and building a computer-controlled, electro-mechanical system in the lab that implements or characterizes the proposed mechanism, behavior or architecture.
Not offered 2025-26.
Instructors: Dickinson, Murray
BE 111. Making Life: Genome Synthesis from Elements.
9 units (3-0-6); third term.
Prerequisites: Bi 1, Bi 8, or equivalent; or instructor's permission.
Advances in life science research and biotechnology require manipulation and synthesis of DNA and DNA genomes. This course focuses on how to create DNA of increasing lengths, both synthesized in vitro and integrated in vivo. Starting from 5 natural elements (C, H, O, P, N), the course will cover technologies to make DNA from a single nucleotide to 200-nucleotide short oligos, to 1-kb individual genes, to 10-kb gene clusters, to 100-kb genomic fragments, to multi-megabase bacterial genomes, and further beyond to 50-mb mammalian chromosomes and ultimately multi-gigabase mammalian genomes. The course will also cover technologies required to amplify, sequence, and deliver these assembled DNAs ranging from the single gene to the whole genome scale. Topics are approached from experimental, theoretical, and industrial perspective.
Instructor: Wang
ChE/BE/MedE 112. Enhancing Technical Creativity with AI Tools in the Context of Microfluidics for Global Health.
9 units (3-0-6); second term.
The goal of the course is to teach students technical creativity (ideas that solve problems) and how to use artificial intelligence tools developed in the course to enhance their creativity further. Because technical creativity needs a specific context, we selected the context of microfluidic technologies and global health challenges. This course combines three parts. First, students will dive deeply into human and AI augmented technical creativity. Second, students will dive into the physics, kinetics, and transport fundamentals that underpin microfluidic technologies and explore examples of translation of technologies into practice. Finally, students will collaborate in teams to apply their creativity to global health challenges. AI tools will be introduced to aid students in generating and evaluating ideas. Students will be encouraged and helped, but not required, to develop their inventions further by working with OTTCP and entrepreneurial resources on campus. The course benefits from the enrollment of students with diverse backgrounds and interests. Students are encouraged to contact the instructor to discuss enrollment.
Instructor: Ismagilov
Bi/BE/BMB 115. Viruses and Applications to Biological Systems.
9 units (3-2-4); third term.
Learn about viruses as fascinating biological machines, focusing on naturally-occurring and evolved variants, in silico viral vector engineering, and computational methods that include structure visualization and machine learning. This course will introduce the fundamentals in the chemistry and biology of viruses, emphasizing their engineerable properties for use in basic research and translational applications. Topics include: viruses by the numbers, mammalian and non-mammalian (plant, bacteria) viruses, enveloped vs. non-enveloped viruses, host-virus interactions, viral life cycles (replication vs. dormancy), immune responses to viruses, zoonosis, diverse mechanisms of entry and replication, the application of viruses as gene-delivery vehicles (with a focus on adeno-associated viruses or AAVs, lentiviruses, and rabies), and how to engineer viral properties for applications in basic research and gene therapy. The lectures will be complemented by short lab exercises in AAV preparation, bioinformatics and machine learning, and structure visualization.
Given in alternate years; offered 2025-26.
Instructors: Bjorkman, Gradinaru, Van Valen
Ph/APh/EE/BE 118 ab. Physics of Measurement.
9 units (3-0-6); second term.
Prerequisites: Ph 127, APh 105, or equivalent, or permission from instructor.
This course explores the fundamental underpinnings of experimental measurements from the perspectives of information, noise, coupling, responsivity, and backaction. Its overarching goal is to enable students to develop intuition about a diversity of real measurement systems and the means to critically evaluate them. This involves developing a standard framework for estimating the ultimate and practical limits to information that can be extracted from a real measurement system. Topics will include the fundamental nature of information and signals, physical signal transduction and responsivity, the physical origin of noise processes, modulation, frequency conversion, synchronous detection, signal-sampling techniques, digitization, signal transforms, spectral analyses, and correlation methods. The first term will cover the essential underpinnings, while second-term topics will vary year-by-year according to interest. Among possible Ph 118 b topics are: high frequency, microwave, and fast time-domain measurements; biological interfaces and biosensing; the physics of functional brain imaging; and quantum measurement.
Part b not offered 2025-26.
Instructor: Roukes
Bi/BE 119. Morphogenesis of Developmental Systems.
9 units (3-0-6); second term.
Prerequisites: Bi 8 and Bi 9, or instructor's permission.
This course explores how cells, tissues, and organs acquire their shape, with a focus on the role of mechanical forces in cell shape changes, migration, and adhesion dynamics. Key topics include chemotaxis,
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