Biophysics
Full course description
Although the life we see around us appears very diverse it is remarkably similar at the level of molecules.
Biophysics applies the principles of physics and chemistry, the methods of mathematical analysis, and computer modelling to understand how biological systems work. It seeks to explain biological function in terms of the structures and properties of specific molecules. The aim of this course is to provide a comprehensive overview of many biophysical techniques, to relate them to each other, and to show how these can be used to study biological molecules. The biophysical techniques will be introduced following the outline of one book [1], and cover transport, hydrodynamics, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, diffraction, microscopy, computational modelling, and NMR. You will learn how to determine molecular structures, how to study dynamic diffusion properties, how to measure ion transport and protein folding, and how to characterize conformational changes. Each lecture will deal with one or two groups of techniques. The tutorials will go into more depth for some of those techniques.
Course objectives
- Students can understand the key concepts in molecular and cellular biophysics.
- Students will have a comprehensive overview of the different biophysical techniques that can be used to study biological molecules in vitro and in vivo.
- Students will be able to compare different biophysical techniques and choose the appropriate one to study different biological phenomena.
- Students will be able to get the gist of a scientific publication that uses one or more of the biophysical methods that were introduced in the course.
Prerequisites
- None
Co-requisites
- None
Recommended
- CHE2006
- BIO2001
- INT2010
Recommended reading
- [1] “Biophysical Techniques” by Iain D. Campbell. Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199642144;
- [2] “Methods in Molecular Biophysics” by Serdyuk and Zaccai. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0511811166.
- [3] Britt, Hannah M., Tristan Cragnolini, and Konstantinos Thalassinos. "Integration of mass spectrometry data for structural biology." Chemical Reviews 122.8 (2021): 7952-7986.