Quantitative biology and the "hacker lab" : An interdisciplinary graduate program at UCSD*

The Quantitative Biology Program (Qbio) is a new integrative graduate specialization program that consists of a combination of theory classes, experimental labs, seminars, and critical reading courses. The program draws select graduate student from five different departments across three division at UCSD : physics, biology, chemistry, bioengineering, and biomedical sciences. In this talk, we will survey the program structure, but focus on two unique aspects of the program : the interactive critical reading program and the Qbio Hacker lab.

In brief, the Qbio Hacker lab serves as both classroom and shared resource. First, students enroll in a single-quarter “boot-camp” lab course. Though a combination of lectures and hands-on experimental modules, student work together in interdisciplinary pairs to achieve a basic proficiency in experimental skills ranging from 3D fabrication for instrumentation to computer-electronics-hardware interfacing to optical design for modern microscopy to fundamentals of microfluidics. The students then enroll in a second-quarter “project/rotation” quarter in which the students utilize their newly-developed experimental skills and resources to design and tackle a pilot research project under the guidance of individual Qbio faculty. Additionally, students work together in small groups through an interactive critical reading program, spending multiple weeks on an individual research paper to critically analyze its data, results, and theoretical claims. Through these multiple interdisciplinary interactions, students cement a foundation in reaching across fields to investigate biological phenomena with the full array of quantitative and technological tools available to them.