Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
MIT OpenCourseWare
Computation for Biological Engineers
Art: PSM V09 D115 Pasteur apparatus for germ studies, 1876 · Public domain
- Instructors
- Prof. Eric Alm, Prof. Andrew Endy
- Term
- Fall 2006
- Level
- Undergraduate
- What's inside
- 1 lecture note · 43 other files · 4 web pages
- Materials open
- MIT OCW
About this course
Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 20.181 Computation for Biological Engineers, Fall 2006, Prof. Eric Alm, Prof. Andrew Endy — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.
Materials are grouped the way MIT organized them. A verified, course-wide order has not been established here.
Before you start
Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.
How this course was organized
What's here, and what isn't
- A lecture sequence of 25 items is confirmed. Assignment and exam materials exist too, but MIT's own order for them could not be verified, so they're shown as materials below rather than a sequence.
Not included here
9 items from the source could not be safely included:
- MIT's page format for this item wasn't recognized clearly enough to place it safely. (8 items)
- Referenced in a table, but without MIT's own verified order, so it isn't used to claim a sequence.
Materials by section
Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.
Lecture Notes
17 files
- Course Overview Introduction to Phylogenetic Inference; Case Studies; Phylogenetic Trees; Quick Review of Recursion Download
- Review of UPGMA; Purpose of Phylogenetics; Newick Notation Download
- Phylogenetic Trees: Overview, Possible Trees Python®: Trees; Data Structure, Parsing Function Download
- Parsimony; Sankoff Downpass Algorithm Download
- Downpass (cont.); Fitch’s Up Pass Download
- Up Pass (cont.) Download
- Parsimony (cont.); Overall Strategy; Maximum Likelihood (ML); Jukes-Cantor; Evolutionary Model Download
- Greedy Algorithm for Trying Trees Review Download
- Introduction to The Protein Design Problem. What Makes Proteins Fold? Entropy Download
- Dihedrals, Build Order (Courtesy of Mike Yee. Used with permission.) Download
- When to Use Computational Methods vs. Exact Methods; The Physics Model Underlying Exact Methods Download
- Physics Model Underlying Exact Methods (cont.); Using Physics Model to Compute When a Reaction will Take Place. Download
- Review of How Physics Model Leads to Computational Method; The Complete Computational Method (Gillespie’s Direct and First Reaction Methods) Download
- Difference Between Reaction Rate and Reaction Propensity; Achieving Faster Computation Download
- Next Reaction Method Algorithm; Application to Genetic Memory (Latch) Download
- Review of Key Concepts (PDF 1) Download
- Review of Key Concepts (PDF 2) Download
Assignments
22 files
- Assignment 1 Download
- This zip file contains solutions to fibonacci and UPGMA portions (hw1_files.zip) Download
- Assignment 2 Download
- This zip file contains codebase (hw2.py), example tree (hw2_tree.txt), and a solution (hw2_sol.py) (hw2_files.zip) Download
- Assignment 3 Download
- hw3_files.zip Download
- Assignment 4 Download
- hw4_files.zip Download
- Assignment 5 Download
- hw5_files.zip Download
- Assignment 6 Download
- This zip file contains example data (hw6_data.txt) and syntax helper (hw6_helper.pdf) (hw6_files.zip) Download
- Assignment 7 Download
- hw7_files.zip Download
- Assignment 8 Download
- This zip file contains: code and data files (hw8_files.zip) Download
- Assignment 9 Download
- This zip file contains: code and data files (hw9_files.zip) Download
- Assignment 10 Download
- This zip file contains directory of code and data files (\media) and solutions in PDF and Python… (hw10_files.zip) Download
- Assignment 11 (Optional) Download
- This zip file contains directory of code and data files (\media), hints and solution (hw11_files.zip) Download
Exams
Study Materials
Course outline
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 2: Review of UPGMA; Purpose of Phylogenetics; Newick Notation ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 3: Phylogenetic Trees: Overview, Possible Trees Python®: Trees; Data Structure, Parsing Function ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 4: Parsimony; Sankoff Downpass Algorithm ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 5: Downpass (cont.); Fitch’s Up Pass ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 6: Up Pass (cont.) ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 7: Parsimony (cont.); Overall Strategy; Maximum Likelihood (ML); Jukes-Cantor; Evolutionary Model ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 8: Greedy Algorithm for Trying Trees Review ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 9: Exam 1
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 10: Introduction to The Protein Design Problem. What Makes Proteins Fold? Entropy ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 11: MM/PD Lecture 2
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 12: MM/PD Lecture 3
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 13: Dihedrals, Build Order ( PDF ) (Courtesy of Mike Yee. Used with permission.)
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 14: MM/PD Lecture 5
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 15: MM/PD Lecture 6
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 16: MM/PD Lecture 7
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 17: MM/PD Lecture 8
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 18: Exam 2
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 19: When to Use Computational Methods vs. Exact Methods; The Physics Model Underlying Exact Methods ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 20: Physics Model Underlying Exact Methods (cont.); Using Physics Model to Compute When a Reaction will Take Place. ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 21: Review of How Physics Model Leads to Computational Method; The Complete Computational Method (Gillespie’s Direct and First Reaction Methods) ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 22: Difference Between Reaction Rate and Reaction Propensity; Achieving Faster Computation ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 23: Next Reaction Method Algorithm; Application to Genetic Memory (Latch) ( PDF )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 24: Review of Key Concepts ( PDF 1 ) ( PDF 2 )
Lecture Notes · Lecture Notes
Lecture 25: Exam 3
MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Eric Alm, Prof. Andrew Endy, 20.181 Computation for Biological Engineers, Fall 2006.
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2006 · Open the original course on OCW ↗
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