Course Modalities (TU Wien, 2026)
Goal of this course is to provide you with means to understand, analyze, and design basic genetic circuits in cells. It is based on the course Computational Bioengineering by Matthias Függer, Thomas Nowak, and Mariapia D’Urso at ENS Paris-Saclay (2025).
Instructor
Topics
We start with basic principles of genetic control and discuss:
- cell principles
- circuit principles
- mathematical models to describe genetic circuits
- steady state and dynamic behavior
- separation of time scales
- regulation principles
- activation & repression
- their implications for the design of new circuits
- measurement techniques
- AI techniques
- and much more…
If possible, bring yor own laptop with a running Python/Jupyter environment as well as pen and paper. This allows you to experiment with code and solving math questions for in-class questions.
Course modalities
- In-person lectures: 10 lectures 10 c.t (=10h15) until 11h45, mind the changing location. For further information see the TISS website.
- Project kickoff
- on Thu 21/5/2026
- you decide on your project’s topic
- Projects: 2 weeks time, but you can start already during the course
- Project hand-in & presentations
- happening remote
- live presentations
- 10-15 minutes per project
- submit a 2 page paper about the project
Examination
- Contribution in class: 25%
- Written report: short (2 pages) scientific paper on your outcome: 40%
- Presentation of project: 35%
Your Project
The aim of the projects is that you can deep-dive and strengthen your skills on one of the lecture’s topics. In the course we will work on an Inverter from many different angels: its biology, modeling, designing, characterizing, etc. I suggest that you work on an aspect related to this running example. However, if you happen to find a different topic that is related to one of the lectures, feel free to propose it to me.