This course is a faculty-directed project that could be considered original in nature. The level of work is appropriate for students in their final two years of undergraduate study.

How does physics bear on the workings of living cells and organisms? Physicists are critically needed to participate in addressing grand challenges in biology and medicine today. These challenges call for scientists, including physicists, to thoroughly penetrate the molecular workings of cells, tissues, and organisms and to create new and better instruments to probe them. This course is designed to acquaint you with current scientific challenges posed by this universe within, to equip you with physics tools that are important for addressing them, and to acquaint you with basic physical principles central to quantitative study of living cells and organisms. The course includes an introductory tour of cell biology from a physics standpoint, a quantitative introduction to molecular forces in living cells, and an introduction to manifestations of statistical physics in living organisms. Applications include enzyme catalysis, oxygen transport, diffusion within cells, thermodynamic forces, motor proteins, spontaneous structure formation, cell signaling, the electrical double layer, and conduction of nerve impulses. Additional topics will be chosen according to interests of students and instructors.

This graduate-level course in biological physics provides an introductory survey of biological physics, followed by the topics of (i) forces between atoms, molecules, particles, and surfaces important for living systems; (ii) equilibrium statistical physics solution models relevant for biological systems; (iii) self-assembling systems in living cells and organisms; (iv) elasticity and viscoelasticity in cells and organisms; and (v) examples of active matter.

This course is a graduate capstone project for students enrolled in the Professional Master’s track of the MS Physics Program.

Graduate-level research by the candidate on an appropriate topic as arranged between the candidate and the research advisor.

Graduate-level research by the candidate on an appropriate topic as arranged between the candidate and the research advisor.