Quantitative Biosciences
Dynamics across Cells, Organisms, and Populations
Published on 5. March 2024
Book
Hardback
408 pages
978-0-691-18150-9 (ISBN)
Description
A hands-on approach to quantitative reasoning in the life sciences
Quantitative Biosciences establishes the quantitative principles of how living systems work across scales, drawing on classic and modern discoveries to present a case study approach that links mechanisms, models, and measurements. Each case study is organized around a central question in the life sciences: Are mutations dependent on selection? How do cells respond to fluctuating signals in the environment? How do organisms move in flocks given local sensing? How does the size of an epidemic depend on its initial speed of spread? Each question provides the basis for introducing landmark advances in the life sciences while teaching students-whether from the life sciences, physics, computational sciences, engineering, or mathematics-how to reason quantitatively about living systems given uncertainty.
Draws on real-world case studies in molecular and cellular biosciences, organismal behavior and physiology, and populations and ecological communities
Stand-alone lab guides available in Python, R, and MATLAB help students move from learning in the classroom to doing research in practice
Homework exercises build on the lab guides, emphasizing computational model development and analysis rather than pencil-and-paper derivations
Suitable for capstone undergraduate classes, foundational graduate classes, or as part of interdisciplinary courses for students from quantitative backgrounds
Can be used as part of conventional, flipped, or hybrid instruction formats
Additional materials available to instructors, including lesson plans and homework solutions
Quantitative Biosciences establishes the quantitative principles of how living systems work across scales, drawing on classic and modern discoveries to present a case study approach that links mechanisms, models, and measurements. Each case study is organized around a central question in the life sciences: Are mutations dependent on selection? How do cells respond to fluctuating signals in the environment? How do organisms move in flocks given local sensing? How does the size of an epidemic depend on its initial speed of spread? Each question provides the basis for introducing landmark advances in the life sciences while teaching students-whether from the life sciences, physics, computational sciences, engineering, or mathematics-how to reason quantitatively about living systems given uncertainty.
Draws on real-world case studies in molecular and cellular biosciences, organismal behavior and physiology, and populations and ecological communities
Stand-alone lab guides available in Python, R, and MATLAB help students move from learning in the classroom to doing research in practice
Homework exercises build on the lab guides, emphasizing computational model development and analysis rather than pencil-and-paper derivations
Suitable for capstone undergraduate classes, foundational graduate classes, or as part of interdisciplinary courses for students from quantitative backgrounds
Can be used as part of conventional, flipped, or hybrid instruction formats
Additional materials available to instructors, including lesson plans and homework solutions
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
16 color + 159 b/w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 257 mm
Width: 203 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
1225 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-18150-9 (9780691181509)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2024
Manchester University Press
€59.49
Available for download
Person
Joshua S. Weitz is professor and the Clark Leadership Chair in Data Analytics in the Department of Biology at the University of Maryland. Previously, he held the Tom and Marie Patton Chair in Biological Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he founded the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences. He is the author of Quantitative Viral Ecology: Dynamics of Viruses and Their Microbial Hosts (Princeton).