Metabolic engineering focus on using a systems-level view to analyze cellular metabolism and predict optimal rewiring of metabolic networks. It integrates large-scale data collection, high-throughput biology and in silico modeling along with genome-wide engineering to improve cellular phenotype or pathway flux.
The first half of the class will review and consolidate concepts in bioenergetics, focusing on bioenergetics principles, mitochondria physiology and pathology, and metabolism pathways. The second half of the class will introduce metabolic engineering and its applications. Topics will include integration of the techniques of molecular biology with the tools of mathematical analysis, to help elucidate metabolic flux control and rational selection of targets for genetic modification.