Biological
Engineering Design
Please Note: As of spring, 2008, the course web page has been moved to a Stellar site - Please go here
MIT Course 20.380J/10.02J/5.22J
Spring 2007
Contact Information:
Professors
|
Room 56-669 |
253-6227 |
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|
Room 56-561 |
258-9494 |
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| Robert Langer | Room E25-342 | 253-3107 | rlanger@mit.edu |
Teaching Assistant
| Bahar Edrissi | bahar@mitledu |
Course Design Mission for 2007: The subject of the course this semester is design of novel systems for detection, treatment and prevention of human liver cancer, a disease that takes a half million lives annually. One treatment approach will be to use nanocell technology, a recent device developed in the Sasisekharan laboratory. The task of one group in the class will be to customize the nanocell to make it specifically effective against liver cancer. A second group will be asked to mine a huge volume of genomic data on the liver, with the goal of finding specific pathways that should protect against liver cancer. This group will devise a way to find drugs or environmental agents (e.g., dietary agents) that will induce the pathways that will protect people from developing liver cancer. The final group will mine genomic data to come up with a means to detect liver cancer in its pre-clinical stage. Today, by the time liver cancer is detected, it is too late -- an average patient lives only 6-9 months, making this one of the most lethal malignancies. You will use modern technology to detect the disease at an earlier stage ... a stage at which it could be treatable by surgery.
You will focus on developing a Small Business Innovation Research grant application to the National Institutes of Health. You will need to combine basic science, market analysis and product development details, along with providing a compelling ethical rationale for your project, to the reviewers. The project will be judged at the end of the term by a panel of experts from academia and industry.
Course Information (updated frequently):
- FINAL PAPER: Due May 1 by 5 pm
- Please see this link to to prepare for the Final Presentation on May 8
- Expectations and grading information
- Office Hours are arranged by each group, meet in 56-614 or 56-602, and are a scheduled time to discuss projects, presentations, papers, etc. Additional meetings are also available by appointment. Feel free to email Bahar at any time with questions.
Lecture Schedule:
All lectures are in Room 56-614 from 10-12
| Day | Date | Topic | Lecturer | Readings | Presentations and Lecture Notes |
| Tuesday | February 6 |
Course introduction Expectations Defined SBIR Proposal |
RS | Course Intro | |
| Thursday | February 8 |
Hallmarks of Cancer The Liver Liver Cancer |
JME
|
Harris, 2003; Kensler, 2003 (overview of liver cancer) |
Cancer |
| Tuesday | February 13 | Liver Cancer | JME | Kew, 2001 (hepatitis B infection); Rehermann, 2005 (immunology of HBV and HCV); Groopman, 2005 (background on aflatoxin and hepatitis as an aid to understanding the Handout below) | |
| Thursday | February 15 | Nanocell as a Treatment for Cancer | RS | Nanocell manuscript | |
| Thursday | February 22 |
Workshop I Students Assigned to Groups |
|
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| Tuesday | February 27 | Clinical Pharmacology and Regulatory Agencies | JME | Regulatory Agencies | |
| Thursday | March 1 |
Regulatory Agencies (Cont.) Systems Biology |
JME RS |
Integrated Biology | |
| Tuesday | March 6 | Cytokine Networks, Inflammation and Cancer |
JME |
Kuang, 2005 (HBV and aflatoxin as co-risk factors for HCC); Montesano, 2006 (HCC in Africa): Supene and Wain-Hobson, 2005 (HBV and APOBEC) | |
| Thursday | March 8 |
General Discussion and Guidelines on Workshop Presentations |
RS and JME |
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| Tuesday | March 13, 15 and 20 | Groups 1, 2 and 3 make presentations | Students | ||
| Thursday | March 22 |
Five page paper due
Animal Anatomy |
Gerald Wogan | ||
| Tuesday | April 3 | Drug Delivery Systems | Robert Langer | Slides | |
| Thursday | April 5 | RS | Intro to Momenta | ||
| April 10, 12 and 17 | Groups 1, 2 and 3 make presentations | Slides | |||
| Thursday | April 19 | Workshops | RS and JME | ||
| Tuesday | May 1 | SBIR Final Papers Due | |||
| Thursday | May 3 | Rehearsal | Slides | ||
| Tuesday |
May 8 7:00 PM |
Final Case Study Presentations | All Students | Slides |
Group Pages:
- Students are divided into three groups: Liver Cancer Prevention, Cure and Detection
- Student presentation schedule is here
- Full set of student presentations is here
- Course reference information is found here
- Additional Resources:
- MIT Libraries 20.380 Resources and Chemical Engineering Resources
- SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Grant Homepage
- Detailed Instructions for SBIR Application
Please send comments or questions about this web site to
the TAs.
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