Integrated Workshop

The Integrated Workshop (IW) is a required class for IGPPEB students and an integral part of the curriculum. The goals of the IW are to introduce students to methods of modern integrative science, to familiarize them with 'state of the art' instrumentation, to foster a close working relationship amongst the students and to provide a direct link between research and teaching. We envision integrated modules, 'team taught' by appropriate combinations of faculty. Students will work in teams to carry out four in-depth modules, which will involve a high level of integration of physical and biological science and of theory and experiment. By involving both physical and biological faculty in teaching, and by pairing physical and biological students together on projects that have both biological and physical elements, we will incorporate 'peer tutoring' at every step of the process.

One specific example is "Integrated studies of chromatin." The first level of assembly of DNA into chromosomes is into a DNA-protein (DNA-histone) complex called chromatin. This module will involve purification of histones, their assembly onto DNA, and an examination of the mechanical properties of the assembled chromatin. The procedures for the first part of the module will include protein purification, electrophoresis, mass spectroscopy verification of the components, and end-functionalization of DNA. Thus, the students will learn the importance of careful biochemistry and the need to completely characterize the quality of all components in the system to be studied. For the second part of the module, students will align and use an "optical tweezers" apparatus to study the "force-extension" behavior of chromatin. This module spans ideas and techniques from protein purification, to transcription, to optics, to the statistical physics of polymer conformations, to the reaction coordinate, to Poisson processes.