Columbia University Systems Biology Initiative
Current Projects
Read more about current projects and contact project leads to learn more about getting involved
High School Workshop Series
Project Lead: Maria Paredes
Given that synthetic biology, a large subfield of systems biology, is a novel field that tremendous potential, our mission is to help students explore this field at the high school level by developing educational workshops. We teach high school students the frontiers of research and foundations of synthetic biology, which can include biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, cell biology, developmental biology, physiology, genetic engineering, and biomedical engineering. Subject matter range from the most prominent techniques in genetic engineering (including CRISPR) to the applications of using synthetic biology to solve real-world problems through frontiers of research. Students gain an in-depth understanding of the theories and techniques in current synthetic biology research as well as scientific thinking skills in designing scientific projects and analyzing scientific results, developing skills integral to the growth of budding young scientists.
Podcasts: CU Bio Bytes & CU BioWorks
Project Lead: Vaibhav Mangipudy & Aaron Ouyang
Bio Bytes is Columbia’s first student run Systems Biology and Biomedicine podcast focused on discussing exciting new advances at the intersection of biology, computer science, mathematics, and physics. Members can contribute to weekly recording sessions as well as interview faculty about their research and interests in the field. We also aim to update the SBI YouTube channel with creative educational content and illustrated/animated shorts on biologically relevant material. Check out CU Bio Bytes here!
BioWorks is Columbia’s first student-run podcast focused on life science business, entrepreneurship, policy, and investment. Members can contribute to weekly recording sessions as well as interview guests about their interests and perspectives on a variety of biological issues. Our podcast has reached listeners all over the world from Germany to Puerto Rico to Taiwan and more. Listen in to hear conversations with a diverse array of guests making "bio work" in the real world!
Computational Biology & Modeling Systems Workshops
Project Leads: Scarlet Au and Theo Nelson
The intersection of computer science and biology has grown rapidly in the past decade and has led to innovative strides in research, both in the fields of bioinformatics and mathematical modeling. The computation biology workshops led by SBI will fit a wide range of audience experience, from those who are just getting started in the field to those who have worked in computational biology research. Throughout the year, we will focus on genomic analysis, especially pertaining to the analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing, a novel sequencing technique that allows for researchers to look at the genomic profiles of each individual cell. Additionally, these analyses can be combined with physical concepts to allow us to create mathematical models and to allow us to look at biological data from a more mathematical perspective. Workshops will be held in a variety of computer science languages, from MATLAB to Python, and will also help audience members understand how to use the command line and set up virtual environments on their personal devices to run and analyze big biological datasets in a efficient manner. These workshops will help form a firm foundation of computer science and data knowledge to pursue and understand other computational biology projects.Regardless of one’s field or level, our workshops familiarize and engage the audience with genetic data analytics, interactive graphing, GUI development, heatmaps, phase portraits and much more in medical informatics. Multiple sessions in different languages (i.e. MATLAB, Python) are offered centered on recently published papers and data banks.
Our team, also provides support and feedback for those interested in creating new sessions and intends to collaborate with Hackathons in future.
Systems Biology Expo
Project Leads: Julia Zhao
We aim to to explore the current cutting-edge research in synthetic biology at and beyond Columbia to have engaging conversations about frontiers of research and its applications and impact. We present and discuss work done by prominent synthetic biologists from Columbia, various biotechnology companies, and other influential scientists internationally to better understand the field of synthetic biology and where research is heading. This also allows students to explore this work before potentially joining various synthetic biology labs at Columbia and internships at biotech companies. Much of our content is based off of the international synthetic biology conference, SEED.
Human Biology Workshops
Project Leads: Mohammed Yusufali
Presented in a fun and engaging style, the human bio presentations are an in-depth venture into the world of emergency medicine, pharmacology, and anatomy. Each month, a presentation will be given based on a case study found in the literature. The presenter will expand on the topics covered in order to create both a comprehensive medical history and story. This keeps the presentation accessible to everyone while providing more advanced subjects to those who are already familiar. Our team, also provides support and feedback for those interested in creating new sessions and intends to collaborate with Hackathons in future.
iGEM @ Columbia
Project Leads: Jacob Rosenfeld
The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation is an organization that seeks to advance the community and application of synthetic biology in education and competition by developing an open community. The iGEM Foundation hosts the iGEM Competition that pits multidisciplinary teams work together to design, build, test, and measure a system of their own design using interchangeable biological parts and standard molecular biology techniques. In this effort, competition through iGEM’s coordination allows teams of passionate students and scientists to both compete and educate as part of the initiatives outlined in iGEM’s mission in synthetic biology.
Our team’s objective is to promote awareness of synthetic biology and prepare teams to compete in the iGEM Jamboree. In order to prepare, the club will develop mock design proposals to learn how to utilize the open-source synthetic biology resources that have been gathered by the iGEM community and the synthetic biology community at large. Participation in this project starts from research, design, pilot experiment, preliminary data collection, and final report for competition submissions. It really challenges team members’ ability as research scientists and collaborators.