Global Arc

This course will study aspects of the top 25 environmental disasters that lend themselves to analysis by application of fundamental principles from mass, momentum and heat transfer. Some examples include: dissolution from a pipe wall associated with lead contamination of the municipal water supply in Flint, MI, transport of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination into the sediments of the Hudson River, biodegradation of oil droplets created by the addition of surfactant following the Deepwater Horizon explosion, oxygen depletion in the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, and spread of methylisocyanate gas from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.

The milk we drink in the morning (a colloidal dispersion), the gel we put into our hair (a polymer solution), and the plaque that we try to scrub off our teeth (a biofilm) are all familiar examples of soft materials. Such materials also hold great promise in helping to solve engineering challenges like drug delivery, water remediation, oil recovery, and the development of new coatings, displays, formulations, foods, and biomaterials. This class will cover fundamental aspects of the science of soft materials, presented within the context of these challenges. We will also have industrial speakers describe new applications of soft materials.

This course explores the physical chemistry of biological macromolecules with the goal of relating fundamental concepts to challenges in protein engineering and biotechnology. We develop expression for the interaction energy between biological macromolecules or fragments of these molecules. We show how these energy expressions result in the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of biological macromolecules. In doing so, we emphasize the properties and interactions of proteins, with a focus on three areas: protein folding and stability, protein-protein interactions and enzyme catalysis.

Presents a framework for the analysis of cellular responses, such as proliferation, migration, and differentiation. Emphasis on mechanistic models of biotransformation, signal transduction, and cell-cell communication in tissues. Focuses first on unit operations of cell physiology transcription, translation, and signal transduction. Models of these processes will rely on tools of reaction engineering and transport. Process dynamics and control will then be used to analyze the regulatory structure of networks of interacting genes and proteins. Prerequisites: MOL 214 and MAE 305 or their equivalents.

This course introduces the concepts of soft condensed matter and their use in understanding the mechanical properties, dynamic behavior, and self-assembly of living biological materials. We will take an engineering approach that emphasizes the application of fundamental physical concepts to a diverse set of problems taken from the literature, including mechanical properties of biopolymers and the cytoskeleton, directed and random molecular motion within cells, aggregation and collective movement of cells, and phase transitions and critical behavior in the self-assembly of lipid membranes and intracellular structures.

This course will focus on the design and engineering of biomacromolecules. After a brief review of protein and nucleic acid chemistry and structure, we will delve into rational, evolutionary, and computational methods for the design of these molecules. Specific topics to be covered include aptamers, protein and RNA-based switches and sensors, unnatural amino acids and nucleotides, enzyme engineering, and the integration of these parts via synthetic biology efforts. Two lectures.

A treatment of the quantitative tools to understand the human body. Course reviews cell biology and anatomy, then examines cells, tissues, and organs using principles from engineering kinetics and transport processes. Topics include: cell physiology; organ system physiology (including the cardiovascular, renal, and respiratory systems); and pathophysiology. Clinical treatments for human disease will also be analyzed.

This course covers major diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, infectious diseases), the physical changes that inflict morbidity and mortality, the design constraints for treatment, and emerging technologies that take into account these physical hurdles. Taking the perspective of the design constraints on the system (that is, the mass transport and biophysical limitations of the human body), the course will survey recent results from the fields of drug delivery, gene therapy, tissue engineering, and nanotechnology. Two lectures.

Stoichiometry and mechanisms of chemical reaction rates, both homogeneous and catalytic; adsorption, batch, continuous flow, and staged reactors; coupling between chemical reaction rates and mass, momentum, and energy transport; stability; optimization of reactor design. Application to environmental and industrial problems. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Prerequisites: CBE 246, CBE 250, and CBE 341.

Introduction to chemical process flow-sheeting; process design, sizing and cost estimation of total processes; process economics; introduction to optimization, linear programming, integer programming, and nonlinear programming; heat integration methods, minimum utility cost, minimum number of units, network optimization. Two lectures, one laboratory. Prerequisites: CBE 341, CBE 346, and CBE 441.