The Independent Activities Period (IAP) is a special four-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month. We offer both credit and non-credit opportunities.
For Credit
7.102 -- Introduction to Molecular Biology Techniques
Building 68, Room 089
Level: U | 6 units (0-5-1) | Can be repeated for credit.
Instructors: Prof. Adam Martin, Dr. Mandana Sassanfar
Prerequisites: None – Note that this course is not a substitute for 7.002 or 7.003
This intensive “boot-camp” style course introduces students to basic research and provides hands-on instruction in basic molecular biology and microbiology techniques including sterile techniques, isolation and quantification of nucleic acid (DNA) and protein, agarose and SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis, PCR, Cloning, microscopy, DNA sequence analysis, and bioinformatics, and curve fitting using python. In addition, students will learn to work with bacteria and purify and characterize viruses that infect bacteria using advanced techniques such as ultracentrifugation and electron microscopy. Emphasis will be on real-world application in preparation for a successful UROP experience. This lab course will improve students’ troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
Priority will be given to freshmen with no prior research experience.
Students will work in teams and be expected to spend every afternoon from 12:30 to 5pm in the lab. As in a real lab situation, some experiments will take longer than expected, or will need to be repeated.
Apply by filling out this form and emailing it to Dr. Mandana Sassanfar. The class is limited to 16 students. No listeners. Applicants will be informed by December 11. Late applicants will be placed on the waiting list and informed by January 8.
Non-Credit
Skills to find your path
Delivering an Engaging Scientific Presentation
Click here to view presentation recording & slides
Monday, January 9th, 1-3 p.m.
KI Luria Auditorium, 76-156
Britt Glaunsinger, PhD
Associate Chair of the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology and Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Back by popular demand! Come hear from Professor Britt Glaunsinger on how to design and deliver an effective and engaging scientific presentation. This seminar will be interactive, so attendees are encouraged to bring laptops to engage fully with the material.
Leveling Up Data Management
Friday, January 13th, 12-1 p.m., attendance by Zoom
https://mit.zoom.us/j/4019255244
Dr. Kristin Briney
Biology & Biological Engineering Librarian, Caltech
Dr. Briney, a scientific librarian who has authored several books on data management and sharing, will give her best tips on managing and storing data big and small. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a researcher in possession of data must be in want of better data management. Good data management means spending less time searching for old data files, always remembering the details of each experiment (because you wrote them down), and never losing your work even if your hard drive crashes. This talk highlights several fundamental data management practices that you can integrate into your research processes that will make it easier to find, use, and manage your data years into the future.
How to Talk to a Science Denier
Click here to view presentation recording
Tuesday, January 17th, 11-12 p.m.
68-181
Lee McIntyre, PhD
Author and Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University
This talk will detail how to address science hesitancy when we speak to non-scientific audiences, from friends and family to the broader community. He will provide tools and techniques for communicating with and reaching out to science deniers.
Communicating your science visually
Click here to view presentation recording
Click here to view presentation materials
Wednesday, January 18th, 3-5 p.m.
68-181
Dr. Sebastian Lourido
Associate Professor, MIT Biology, Whitehead Institute
In this interactive workshop, participants will learn how to use Adobe Illustrator and apply skills and tricks to present their research on slides, figures, or posters. With degrees in both science and art, Sebastian Lourido will equip participants with skills needed for illustrating their science and sharing it with the public.
Navigating competition in a world of collaborative science
Wednesday, January 25th, 3-4 p.m.
68-181
Dr. Jesse Boehm, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, Break Through Cancer & Principal Investigator, MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Research
Dr. Benjamin Sun, MD, PhD
Associate Scientific/Medical Director, Biogen
Dr. Seychelle M. Vos, PhD
Assistant Professor, MIT Department of Biology
During this event, our panelists will participate in a moderated discussion on how to best navigate scientific competition. We will hear perspectives from both academia and industry on the difficult task of balancing collaborative connections with scientific ownership.
Finding the right path for you
Navigating the Changing Landscape of Academic Publishing in the Biosciences
Wednesday, January 11th, 1-2 p.m.
68-181
John W. Pham, PhD
Editor in Chief, Cell
Amy Brand, PhD
Director and Publisher, MIT Press
Jessica Polka, PhD
Executive Director, ASAPbio
John, Amy, and Jessica will discuss their journey through the world of academic publishing, commenting on their experience as trainees and professionals in the sector. The panel will also serve as a venue for a broader discussion on the current landscape of academic publishing and what this means specifically for current trainees in the biosciences. Broad topics of interest include open access movements, time-to-publish, the stakeholders in scientific publishing, and more.
Teaching-focused Careers in Academia
Thursday, January 26th, 12-1 p.m.
68-181
Dr. Anupama Seshan
Associate Professor at Emmanuel College
Dr. Leslie McClain
Visiting Assistant Professor at UMass Boston
Dr. Leah Okumura
Senior Instructor of Science Laboratories at Wellesley College
Join us for a panel discussion about academic careers that are centered around teaching! Learn about our panelists’ career trajectories and how they prioritized teaching opportunities during their training.
Navigating work-life balance in biology-releated careers
Friday, January 27th, 10-11:30 a.m.
68-181
Joey Davis
Assistant professor of Biology, MIT
Stefani Spranger
Assistant professor of Biology, MIT
Sara Nochur
Chief DEI Officer, Alnylam
Matt Goldstein
Partner and Head of Clinical Strategy; Related Sciences
Come join us for a chat with experts from academia, biotech and VCs as they share their experiences with navigating work-life balance in their fields.
Time to exit: pros and cons of academic postdoc
Tuesday, January 31th, 12-1 p.m.
KI Luria Auditorium, 76-156
Constantine Mylonas
Principal Scientist I at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR)
Chris Brennan
Scientist II at Entrada Therapeutics
Carson Burrington
Director, Human Resources at AVROBIO
Theresa Hwang
Scientist, Generate Biomedicines
In this discussion panel, we will hear from former MIT alumni about their experience moving to Industry right after their PhD or after finishing an academic postdoc and discuss their perspective on the benefits and disadvantages of doing a postdoc. We will also hear from a hiring manager’s perspective on what they look for depending on the experience level of the applicants.
Career panel on MD, PhD or MD/PhD tracks
Friday, February 3rd, 12-1 p.m.
KI Luria Auditorium, 76-156
Michael Yaffe, MD/PhD
Joelle Straehla, MD
Nicolas Mathey-Andrews (Jacks Lab), MD/PhD Candidate
Stefani Spranger, PhD
Monty Krieger, PhD
This talk is for anyone interested in career choices, undergrads/pre-med school applicants encouraged.
Visualizing Immune Responses: The Importance of the Lymph Node
Generation and function of anti-viral T cells
Tuesday, January 10th, 3-4 p.m.*
KI Luria Auditorium, 76-156
*updated time & location
Ulrich H. von Andrian, M.D.
Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Professor of Immunopathology
Dept. of Immunology
Harvard Medical School
Program Leader, Basic Immunology
Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Targeting Lymph Node Location for Tailored Immunity
Wednesday, January 11th , 9-10 a.m.
Hybrid 68-181 | https://bit.ly/IAPWebinars
Joanna Groom, PhD
Associate Professor
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator fellow
Laboratory head in the Immunology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), Melbourne, Australia
Spatiotemporal orchestration of cellular immunity
Friday, January 20th, 12-1 p.m.
KI Luria Auditorium, 76-156
Wolfgang Kastenmüller
Director, Institute of Systems Immunology I
University of Würzburg, Germany
Chemokine-organized lymph node niches enhance immune responses
Friday, January 27th, 12-1 p.m.
KI Luria Auditorium, 76-156
Andrew D. Luster, MD, PhD
Chief, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology
Director, Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases
Massachusetts General Hospital
Persis, Cyrus and Marlow B. Harrison Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Science and Society Seminar Series
“Constitutions selection”: Darwin, race and medicine
Monday, January 9th, 3-4:30 p.m.
Hybrid 68-181 | https://mit.zoom.us/j/93339545255
Dr. Suman Seth
Marie Underhill Noll Professor, History of Science, Cornell University
Covid-19: A New Vaccine Apartheid
Date & time TBD
Hybrid KI Luria Auditorium, 76-156 | https://mit.zoom.us/j/97605242948
Dr. Dwai Banerjee
MIT Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Society
The steady rollout of Covid-19 vaccines came attached with a series of difficult questions. Are vaccines a human right? Should patents be enforced in a way that puts people in the global South behind in a global queue? These questions are not new; the world struggled with these ethical dilemmas during the HIV-AIDS pandemic at the end of the twentieth century, when global South governments led by Nelson Mandela fought multinational pharmaceutical corporations for the right to essential life-saving drugs. Can the same strategies be mobilized to deal with inequalities in the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine? This talk explains that in the present, multinational corporations and Euro-American governments are trying to reverse some of the key political visions and victories of HIV-AIDS internationalism, exploiting the urgency of the Covid-19 crisis to put in place a new vaccine apartheid.
Biology v 2.0: Rebuilding a science that is bigger, bolder, smarter, and more inclusive
Wednesday, February 1st, 12-1:30 p.m.
Hybrid 68-181 | https://mit.zoom.us/j/99666871075
Dr. Brandon Ogbunu
MIT MLK Visiting Professor in Chemistry, Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University
In this seminar, I propose that the state of modern biology requires a set of major and minor changes to keep pace with a changing world. Challenges include the rise of misinformation and anti-science sentiment, a replicability crisis, and widespread disillusionment from junior scientists—all forces that undermine the institution of merit and feed public mistrust in science. I highlight several specific areas in the science enterprise where reimagination and practical intervention could yield widespread, long-term benefits.
Python IAP Bootcamp
Biweekly 90-minute sessions January 10 – 26.
Instructor: Prof. Joey Davis
Prerequisites (detailed instructions for linux/mac/windows to follow):
• Install anaconda (Python 3.8) on your computer/laptop from the link below:
https://docs.anaconda.com/anaconda/install/.
Day 1 | Introduction, variables | Tuesday, January 10, 2023, 3:00-4:30 p.m., 68-181
• Value of programming in biology
• Why python?
• Getting started with notebooks and scripts
• Overview of useful libraries
• Variables and variable types
• Where to look for more help
• Extended reading: Python Tutorial – Chapters 1, 3 [docs.python.org/3/tutorial]
Day 2 | Functions, and control structure | Thursday, January 12, 2023, 3:00-4:30 p.m., 68-181
• Defining functions, calling functions, function signatures
• Pass by reference vs pass by value
• Conditions – if/then/else
• For loops, while loops
• Extended reading Python Tutorial – Chapter 4 [docs.python.org/3/tutorial]
Day 3 | Data structures | Tuesday, January 17, 2023, 3:00-4:30 p.m., 68-181
• Lists/arrays, iterators, dictionaries
• List & dictionary comprehension
• Numpy arrays
• Pros/cons of various data structure
• Extended reading: Python Tutorial – Chapter 5 [docs.python.org/3/tutorial]; https://numpy.org/doc/stable/user/absolute_beginners.html
Day 4 | Basic input/output, data wrangling I | Thursday, January 19, 2023, 3:00-4:30 p.m., 68-181
• Opening, reading, and writing files
• Working with Pandas dataframes intro (selecting, merging, filtering, etc.)
• Exceptions, assertions, error handling
• Accepting user input (time permitting)
• Handling command line arguments (time permitting)
• Extended reading: Python Tutorial – Chapters 7, 8 [docs.python.org/3/tutorial]; https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/user_guide/10min.html
Day 5 | Data wrangling II | Wednesday, January 25, 2023, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., 68-181
• Numpy array manipulation
• Pandas indexing
• Pandas filtering
• Extended reading: https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/user_guide/dsintro.html; https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/user_guide/basics.html; https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/user_guide/io.html; https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/user_guide/indexing.html
Day 6 | Plotting & good practice | Thursday, January 26, 2023, 3:00-4:30 p.m., 68-181
• Matplotlib
• Conventions, comments, readability, modular testing, debugging
• Extended reading: https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/user_guide/visualization.html; https://matplotlib.org/tutorials/introductory/usage.html#sphx-glr-tutorials-introductory-usage-py;https://matplotlib.org/tutorials/introductory/pyplot.html#sphx-glr-tutorials-introductory-pyplot-py;https://matplotlib.org/tutorials/introductory/sample_plots.html#sphx-glr-tutorials-introductory-sample-plots-py.
• Also consider exploring seaborn independently – you can learn more here: https://seaborn.pydata.org/tutorial.html#