Starting from a quantitative description of cell, tissue and organ assembly, and of their requirements in terms of resources, microenvironmental conditions, cooperation and competition, the course covers fundamental design principles for generating cell, tissue and organ models . It also provides a comprehensive overview of stem cell, organoid and on-chip technology as well as mathematical models of self-assembly, growth and differentiation. Project work will include design and simulation of in vitro models.
The objective is to build knowledge and instruments such that the student can design experimental and computational models of tissues and organs for biotechnology applications such as regenerative medicine, toxicity testing, precision medicine etc. The knowledge will be compounded by solving problems using computational finite element methods.

Students will learn the principles of in silico, in vitro and in vivo modeling using different experimental systems (e.g. organoids, iPSCs, vertebrate animal models). With these tools they will learn the mechanisms of cellular and tissue process regulation. They will also explore the molecular etiology of the onset of diseases, with particular attention to neurodevelopmental syndromes with neurological and neuropsychiatric impact.