For the most recent schedule, please see the GEM4 Summer School Brochure/Agenda (PDF).
Photo of GEM4 Summer School participants taken 8/8/06
Welcome and Introduction to GEM4
Parallel Tutorial Session #1: Basic mechanics
Force, stress, strain, material properties, simple deformation (tension, torsion, bending, buckling) analysis
Parallel Tutorial Session #2: Introduction to physiology
Lunch
General Tutorial Session #1:
Introduction to infectious diseases
Using tuberculosis and malaria as examples
Biosafety and laboratory preparedness
Mixer and social
Parallel Tutorial Session #3: Continuum and statistical mechanics
Brief introduction to the foundations of continuum and statistical mechanics; elastic and viscoelastic response of connective tissues; the role of hydrodynamics in biology
and medicine
Parallel Tutorial Session #4: Introduction to cell biology
Basic cellular structure and functions; cell nucleus, membranes (including membrane microdomains); cytoskeleton, subcellular organelles; cell adhesion, cell-cell interaction, cell locomotion; cell metabolism, signal sensing and processing,cell cycle, etc
Lunch
Parallel Tutorial Session #5: Cell biology lab
Video show of cell structures, cell adhesion, cell growth and cell motion; laboratory demonstrations of cell culture; basics of light microscopy
Parallel Tutorial Session #6: Mechanical testing lab
Demonstration of simple mechanical testing of biological specimens; Atomic Force Microscope testing of cells; demonstration of an experiment using magnetic tweezers
Parallel Tutorial Session #7: Molecular mechanics
Basic laws of thermodynamics, energy, entropy, ensembles; molecular dynamics, diffusion, persistence length, etc
Parallel Tutorial Session #8: Introduction to molecular biology
Basics of molecular genetics; DNA, RNA and protein structure and function; protein synthesis and secretion; lipids, mechnotransduction; signaling pathways; motor molecules; etc
Lunch
General Tutorial Session #2: Introduction to the immune system
General Tutorial Session #3: Experimental methods
Mechanical response of single cells and populations of cells – micropipette aspiration, mechanical plate stretcher, optical stretcher, optical tweezers, AFM, magnetic tweezers, laminar shear flow methods, two-photon microscopy, substrate stretching experiments, MEMS-based tools, molecular force probes, cell adhesion and attachment, effect of loading rate
Pushing and pulling on molecules
In vivo mechanical assays of tissues, cells and molecules
Lunch
General Tutorial Session #4:
Video presentations of mechanical assays and case studies; Demonstration of multiple AFM and optical trap systems; laboratory demonstrations of imaging methods
General Tutorial Session #5
Space, time and energy landscapes in multi-scale mechanobiology
Length and time-scales in biology and force ranges encountered for tissues,
cells and molecules
Molecules of interest: DNA, RNA, proteins, peptides, lipids
Molecular forces: charges, dipole, van der Waals, hydrogen bonding
kT as ruler of molecular forces
Thermal forces and Brownian motion
Reaction kinetics - rate processes, binding affinity, binding energy
Lunch
General Tutorial Session #6:
Case studies of infectious diseases using biomechanical and imaging tools
Tuberculosis and malaria, as examples
Discuss biochemical and mechanochemical aspects of sickle cell disease
The Plasmodium -sickle cell mutation connections
Review problems, and simple homework assignment during weekend
Trainees prepare posters to illustrate their own related work, pose research questions
Social gathering Saturday evening, August 12th
