Outreach

Overview of Our Outreach Activities

Our lab has been actively involved in a variety of outreach activities to disseminate research results and foster an interest in science and engineering among diverse communities. Outreach activities include interactive demonstrations at museums and laboratory open days developed in collaboration with local professional educators.

We have continued to collaborate with the Museum of Natural History, participating in programs such as the Scientist Spotlight Program and the Science Communication Fellows Program. We developed inquiry-based and materials-rich table-top presentations for the general public.

On the Lab Visit day, students from the Science for Tomorrow STEM career outreach program had the opportunity to visit our lab space and witness a range of research demonstrations, including microfluidics, microscopy, zebrafish observation, chemical oscillation, rainbow connection demo, and cell oscillation flip-book, etc.

Outreach Gallery

Scientist Spotlight

Demos at the Museum

Detroit K12 Students Visit to the Yang Lab

Demos

Teaching

Physics/Biophysics 608: Biophysical Principles of Microscopy

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Instructor: Qiong Yang

Description: This course covers the fundamental physics and math behind optical microscopy. An emphasis is on physical principles of a variety of advanced optical imaging techniques, including super-resolution imaging, FCS, FRET, FLIM, SPIM, and nonlinear microscopies, as well as their applications in biological sciences. The physics and math level will assume some familiarity with geometrical and physical optics and complex exponential notation.

Biophysics 435/535: Biophysical Modeling

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Instructor: Qiong Yang

Description: This course covers the basic concepts of biophysical modeling which applies the biophysical approach to modeling biological systems. A survey of problems ranges from biochemical reactions, regulatory networks, bistable switches, oscillations, random processes, Brownian dynamics, reaction-diffusion problems, collective behavior and pattern formation. We discuss modeling these problems by introducing techniques of nonlinear dynamics, ODE/DDE/PDE, stability analysis, bifurcation theory and synchronization, numerical methods, molecular dynamics simulation, as well as stochastic modeling.

Biophysics/Chemistry/Physics 417: Dynamical Processes in Biophysics

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Instructor: Qiong Yang

Description: This course covers the basic physics behind many biological processes. Modules cover diffusion, electrophysiology, biopolymer elasticity, and molecular motors. Two basic themes that resurface throughout the course are the universality of diffusive behavior and the role of energy consumption in driving non-equilibrium processes. The course includes an introduction to reading the primary scientific literature.

Biophysics 450/550 Biological Chemistry 416/516 Physics 450: Techniques in Biophysics

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Instructor: Qiong Yang

Description: This hands-on laboratory course teaches essential laboratory skills in biophysics and biochemistry. Experiments cover protein expression and purification; computational methods such as molecular dynamics simulation and three-dimensional visualization methods of protein structures; modern research methods such as optical tweezers, fluctuation correlation spectroscopy, live cell fluorescence microscopy, and circular dichroism; and the assembly of bright-field microscope. A final project will allow students to explore a topic of their interest in greater depth.

Physics 250: Fundamental Physics for the Life Sciences II

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Instructor: Jens-Christian Meiners, Qiong Yang

Description: This course will cover fundamental concepts in physics including waves, acoustics, electricity and magnetism, atomic and nuclear physics with an emphasis on how these concepts are used to understand fundamentals of biological systems, medical science, and medical instrumentation.