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551-1174-00L 4 Credits BSC D-HEST , D-BIOL
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Systems Biology

Systembiologie

Lecturers & Examiners: Prof. Dr. Uwe Sauer, Prof. Dr. Jörg Stelling, Prof. Dr. Nicola Zamboni, Dr. Karsten Michael Borgwardt
VVZ CR n/a

Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:53:56

Abstract

The course teaches computational methods and first hands-on applications by starting from biological problems/phenomena that students in the 4th semester are somewhat familiar with. During the exercises, students will obtain first experience with programming their own analyses/models for data analysis/interpretation.

Objective

We will teach little if any novel biological knowledge or analysis methods, but focus on training the ability of use existing knowledge (for example from enzyme kinetics, regulatory mechanisms or analytical methods) to understand biological problems that arise when considering molecular elements in their context and to translate some of these problems into a form that can be solved by computational methods. Specific goals are: - understand the limitations of intuitive reasoning - obtain a first overview of computational approaches in systems biology - train ability to translate biological problems into computational problems - solve practical problems by programming with MATLAB - make first experiences in computational interpretation of biological data - understand typical abstractions in modeling molecular systems

Content

During the first 7 weeks, the will focus on mechanistic modeling. Starting from simple enzyme kinetics, we will move through the dynamics of small pathways that also include regulation and end with flux balance analysis of a medium size metabolic network. During the second 7 weeks, the focus will shift to the analysis of larger data sets, such as metabolomics and transcriptomics that are often generated in biology. Here we will go through multivariate statistical methods that include clustering and principal component analysis, ending with first methods to learn networks from data.

Resources

Lecture Notes

Scripts to prepare the lectures will be provided via Moodle

Literature

The course is not taught by a particular book, but two books are suggested for further reading: - Systems Biology (Klipp, Herwig, Kowald, Wierling und Lehrach) Wiley-VCH 2009 - A First Course in Systems Biology (Eberhardt O. Voight) Garland Science 2012

General Information

Language
German
Levels
BSC
Frequency
Yearly recurring

Examination

Type
session examination
Mode
written 120 minutes
Aids
None
Die Vorlesung wird durch Übungen auf einer Lernplattform (Moodle) und Gruppenübungen begleitet. Bei erfolgreicher Teilnahme an den Übungen (mindestens 75% der Aktivitäten müssen erfolgreich abgeschlossen sein) können die Studierenden einen Bonus von 0.25 Notenpunkten erhalten, der auf die Schlussnote der Prüfung angerechnet werden kann. Die Maximalnote 6 für die Lerneinheit kann auch erreicht werden, wenn nur die Sessionsprüfung absolviert wird.Bei einer allfälligen Prüfungsrepetition wird standardmässig die während des Kurses erbrachte Leistung übernommen. Wird dies nicht gewünscht muss der Kurs erneut belegt werden.

Course Components

Type Title Time & Place Hours
lecture Systembiologie
  • Thu 15:45-17:30 (HCI G 3)
2 h weekly
exercise Systembiologie
Die Übungen können zum Teil in englischer Sprache angeboten werden.
  • Tue 16:15-18:00 (LEE C 104)
  • Tue 16:15-18:00 (LEE C 114)
  • Tue 16:15-18:00 (LEE D 101)
  • Tue 16:15-18:00 (LEE D 105)
  • Tue 16:15-18:00 (LEE E 101)
2 h weekly

Offered In