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Aipotu: An Interactive Computer Simulation Linking Genetics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Evolution

The SSPS and Biology & Biotechnology Departments will be co  hosting the following
Monday Feb 2 at 3pm in the Chairman's Room

Speaker info:
Aipotu: An Interactive Computer Simulation Linking Genetics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Evolution
Brian White, Biology Department, University of Massachusetts Boston 
brian.white@umb.edu

Aipotu is an interactive computer simulation that allows students to explore a biological phenomenon - the color of simulated flowers - using tools from the major disciplines of modern biology. In Genetics, students determine the inheritance of color by choosing flowers to cross and observing the offspring generated by the simulation. In Biochemistry, students edit protein sequences that are folded by the simulation in order to elucidate the relationship between protein structure and color. In Molecular Biology, students edit DNA sequences that are expressed by the simulation in order to observe the connection between DNA and protein. In Evolution, students subject a field of flowers to random mutation at the DNA level and natural selection to observe evolution in action. Flowers generated by evolution can then be examined using the other three tools to determine the specific molecular events that led to particular evolutionary changes. Because all of these tools can be applied to the same phenomenon, students will see how these four perspectives form a united biological view of life. The underlying ‘biological engine’ can be adapted to simulate a wide range of phenomena including, morphology, gene regulation, and multi-genic traits. This talk will present Aipotu and discuss the scientific and educational issues it raises. 

This talk will be of interest to:

• Biologists as a platform for research in evolution of digital organisms.
• Biology Educators as an example of an educational simulation that links the major disciplines in modern biology.
• Computer Scientists as an example of evolving digital artificial life.
• Learning Scientists as an example of both the compromises in the design of and in the educational power of computer simulations.

Aipotu is free and open-source http://intro.bio.umb.edu/aipotu/.

Brian White earned a BS in Biology at MIT and a Ph.D in Biology from Stanford University.  He is currently an Associate Professor in the Biology Department at UMass Boston.  He teaches the two-semester introductory biology course series for Biology majors and a graduate course in scientific communication.  His research involves the development and evaluation of teaching materials for freshman biology with an emphasis on educational software. http://intro.bio.umb.edu/bw/

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Last modified: January 23, 2009 14:54:00