BIOS 435: Instability-Driven Patterns in Biology

Course Description

Why do lungs branch like trees, zebrafish wear stripes, and bacterial colonies blossom into flower-like forms? Patterns are ubiquitous in biology, and this mini-course will trace them to a common driver: instabilities. We will introduce canonical fluid instabilities and capture their patterns in tabletop demonstrations; extend the framework to biological nematics (orientationally ordered phases of elongated elements such as DNA and epithelial sheets whose topological defects steer morphogenesis); and apply these principles to shape flows and design patterned scaffolds in synthetic and living systems. Students blend mathematical analysis with design to convert flow `chaos¿ into bioengineering insight. Calculus recommended.