The course will cover the fundamental concepts of biological physics. The main objective is to learn how to apply the principles of physics, methods of mathematical analysis and computational modeling to complex biological systems and develop a better understanding. The approach will be truly interdisciplinary, bringing concepts from statistical physics, classical mechanics, cell biology, chemistry and biochemistry. Topics covered include: biology by the numbers: time and length scales, mechanical and chemical equilibrium in the living cell, entropy in biology, two-state systems and cooperative binding, random walks and the structure of macromolecules, architecture of the cytoskeleton, biological membranes, modeling of fluids, statistical view of biological dynamics, life in crowded environments, rate equations and dynamics in the cell, dynamics of molecular motors.
PH 562: Fundamentals of Biological Physics
Department