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How one of CU’s most recent minors has the potential to revolutionize the medical industry

The field of medicine and health professions is a rapidly shifting and growing industry, constantly providing new sources of innovation in ways that benefit human health across the globe. The integration of rapidly emerging, new technologies into medical and biological research has led to exciting developments within the field. One noteworthy impact was the creation of computational biology, a field of study that seeks to use computing techniques to model and study a wide variety of biological systems. By effectively combining topics from diverse fields, such as molecular biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, computer science, data science and software engineering, computational biology has contributed to major breakthroughs in the modern world including the rise of biotechnology and the development of the COVID-19 vaccine.

In response to this cutting edge subject, the ���񱦵� introduced a minor in Computational Biology in Fall of 2020 that teaches students the advanced computational tools and interdisciplinary ideas that will enable innovative biotechnology and biological research. This effort has been closely aligned with CU’s BioFrontiers Institute, created in 2011 and dedicated to the interdisciplinary exploration of the life sciences and their societal benefits. Working alongside multiple disciplines from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering, the vision of the BioFrontiers Institute is to “drive innovation without boundaries”. The BioFrontiers Institute draws support from well-known computational biologists like Eugene Myers, Sean Eddy, and Gary Stormo, who attended CU for their graduate studies.

In 2017, Aaron Clauset, an associate professor in Computer Science at CU, and Kristin Powell, Director of Interdisciplinary Education at the BioFrontiers Institute, began the long journey to launch a Computational Biology curriculum at CU. To start, they worked with the talented faculty affiliated with the BioFrontiers Institute who had extensive experience in interdisciplinary research, as well as existing classes offered at CU. Their goal was to create a program that brought together students and faculty from a diverse set of majors and departments. Working with advisors Eva Lacy from the Computer Science Department and Kim Noice from the Biology Department, they discussed how to combine classes from both departments into a single program, as well as how to introduce several new courses tailored specifically to the minor.  This provided students the opportunity to cross between disciplines to collaborate and learn from each other and from other students outside of their traditional colleges. For this reason, Clauset and Powell strongly believed that first establishing Computational Biology as a minor instead of a major program was critical to the success of students who desired to enter the field. This not only allowed them to cross departments for their studies, but also cross colleges between Arts and Sciences and Engineering. As such, it is one of the only minors at CU to date that spans multiple departments and colleges on campus.

Robin Dowell, an Associate Professor in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology who is also a faculty member at the BioFrontiers Institute, was instrumental to the formation of the Computational Biology minor. Because the minor is rostered by the Computer Science department, Dowell acted as a spokesperson for the biology departments in the College of Arts and Sciences, advocating on their behalf, and was a leader in the development of the minor’s curriculum. Dowell herself is an excellent example of why this minor was an instrumental addition to CU for those interested in pursuing computational biology. She received bachelor’s degrees in genetics and a second one in computer engineering from Texas A&M University because the concept of computational biology barely existed when she was attending school. Despite this, she knew that she wanted to find a way to combine engineering and genetics in a lab setting, and as a result ended up in the middle of the Human Genome Project at Washington University in St. Louis while obtaining her master’s degree and Ph.D. Owing to her own experiences, Dowell was a strong advocate for the Computational Biology minor at CU so that younger students would not have to pursue multiple degrees to be qualified for the developing industry.

Despite existing for only two academic years, as well as launching during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Computational Biology minor already includes over fifty enrolled students that span about a dozen majors. The program has three areas that students complete over the course of their studies. A technical skills area covers mathematical and computational techniques, while a bio-electives area teaches students the fundamentals of biological concepts and theories. In the third area, composed of upper division courses, students integrate these ideas in a set of classes that focus on topics within computational biology and their applications to the real world. These upper division courses include topics like biological networks, computational genomics, computational neuroscience, optical imaging, biophysics, and more.

Both Clauset and Powell hope that the Computational Biology program at ���񱦵� provides a model for other universities to follow in promoting this evolving field. Many other schools that offer similar programs restrict students to taking classes that are segregated between departments and lack the opportunity for collaboration for academic and research experiences. Looking forward to the future, Clauset and Powell hope that the Computational Biology Minor expands to include many more students and encourages others to appreciate the value of interdisciplinary work and its implications for innovation throughout the world.