Introduction to Biological Physics

Catalog description

This course explores the intersection of physics and biology: how do fundamental physical laws constrain life processes inside the cell, shaping biological organization and dynamics? We will start at the molecular level, introducing the basic ideas of nonequilibrium statistical physics and thermodynamics required to describe the fluctuating environment of the cell. This allow us to build up a theoretical framework for a variety of elaborate cellular machines: the molecular motors driving cell movement, the chaperones that assist protein folding, the information-processing circuitry of genetic regulatory networks. The emphasis throughout will be on simple, quantitative models that can tackle the inherent randomness and variability of cellular phenomena. We will also examine how to verify these models through the rich toolbox of biophysical experimental and computational technologies. The course should be accessible to students from diverse backgrounds in the physical and life sciences: we will explain both the biological details and develop the necessary mathematical / physical ideas in a self-contained manner. Offered as PHYS 320 and PHYS 420 . Prereq: ( MATH 122 or MATH 124 ) and ( ENGR 131 or CSDS 132 or ECSE 132 ).