Quantitative biology
Coordinator : Amaury Lambert
New in 2025 : our former M2 track in systems biology, computational biology & genomics evolves and becomes the quantitative biology track. It provides advanced training in the different fields of life sciences where quantitative approaches have a transformative role in contemporary research, including functional genomics and multi-omics, biophysics, epidemiology, community dynamics, evolutionary genetics, developmental biology and cancer research viewed from single cells and lineages to morphogenesis.
A strong emphasis is set on the mastering of computational biology, data analysis and modelling approaches that are leveraged at the forefronts of research in these fields. Some of the courses incorporate an introduction to the use of machine learning approaches.
Students with various profiles and research aspirations will thrive in this track, provided they already have a background in computational biology and data analysis, and a reasonable level in mathematics.
Professional perspectives for students following this track can be envisioned in a multiplicity of domains ranging from pure theoretical biology to mixed wet-and-dry research at the interface with physics, mathematics or computational biology. Indeed, being able to design, conduct, analyse experiments and integrate their outputs into conceptual models is increasingly becoming an asset in many research areas, including (but not limited to) fundamental and medical genomics, integrative neurosciences, or the investigation of the functions and evolution of ecosystems.
Provisional planning 2026-2027
At least 18 ECTS have to be taken from your selected track.
First semester : 30 ECTS
- Functional genomic data analysis : transcriptomics, ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-067
- Climate Change Ecology — from Populations to Ecoystems (CEPE), ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-110
- Computational Systems Biology of Cancer, Mines/Curie/ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-085 (+ 6 ECTS for the project - UNBIO1-126)
- Cellular ecosystems : from modelling to medicine, ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-070
- Adaptive Dynamics Modeling, ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-073
- Quantitative Viral Dynamics, ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-088
- MAEE - Stochastic Models in Ecology and Evolution, ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-093
- GPS - Genomes, populations, species, ENS - 6 ECTS - UNBIO1-078
- Pasteur : Genome analysis (in French) - 15 ECTS
- Theoretical systems biology, ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-083
- Curie : Cell Biology & Cancer - 3 ECTS. The theme of the 2026 course will be “Cell and tissue shapes”. This is a very intense course (5 days from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and two evenings of dinner and discussion with the speakers until 9 p.m.). Evaluation is based on participation and presentation of a chalk talk on your (past) research internship work.
- Quantitative Genetics, ENS - 6 ECTS - UNBIO1-089
- Ecology for Global Health (EfGH), ENS - 3 ECTS - UNBIO1-109
- ACP - Comparative Phylogenetic Analysis, MNHN- 6 ECTS - UNBIO1-095
- Advanced Data Analysis, ENS - 6 ECTS - UNBIO1-090 (+ 3 ECTS for the project)
- Advanced Biology Course in Epidemiology (ABC-E) - UNBIO1-112
Second semester : 30 ECTS
Long internship (5 months, 30 ECTS)