Introduction to Living systems

• Explain key living system definitions.
• Use terminology in relation to specific living systems.
• Explain how living systems can be utilized by humans.
• Describe the characteristics of different living systems, including information flows, energy and matter.
• Analyse environmental, technological and economic implications related to specific living systems.
• Recommend future uses of existing living systems that can improve human lives.
• Make informed decisions about the use and design of peer feedback.
• Apply communication, cooperative and teamwork skills such as planning, management, leadership and peer support.

Living systems are a vast variety of natural processes involving organisms that humans further develop and enhance in order to produce feed, food, medicines, energy, different materials and improve the quality of life. Specifically, living systems are open self-organizing life forms that interact with their environment and are maintained by flows of information, energy and matter. The understanding of the general principles of how living systems work is crucial in order to be able to evaluate the productivity, the environmental and economic impact, and the possibilities to improve or even replace a living system with other more efficient processes. The course provides students with an essential understanding of the role of living systems in society, the most important scientific aspects related to these, and how living systems can be addressed from an engineering perspective. With focus on engineering aspects, the course addresses all key phases of a living system: cell, organ, organism, group, organization, community, society, and supranational system. The course uses peer learning through different existing living systems to provide the students with the essential understanding of the role and operation of living systems in the society e.g. industrial microorganisms, fermentation systems, downstream processing, biomass, bioenergy, wastewater treatment, aquaculture production etc. Finally, an overview of living systems definitions, availability, competing uses (e.g. competition between resources, process efficiency, emerging technologies, etc.) is provided.

The course combines:
• Project-based learning.
• Peer learning.
• Short lectures.
• A scientific report about of the state-of-the-art of a living system (13-15 pages in groups of 3-4 people).
• Two peer reviews of two other groups’ reports (1.5-2 pages each).
• Final presentation/examination and peer discussion of the report (10-15 minutes per group).