Biological Physics
Supramolecular Structures Lab
Lösche Group
Special Topics in Biological Physics
Biophysics: From Basic Concepts to Current Research
Course ID: 33-767
credit points: 12
Course Meeting Times
Wednesdays, Fridays: 13:30 – 14:50, DH A200,
Seminar – Thursdays: 16:30 – 17:20, WeH 7316
Consultation Hours
M. Deserno: By apointment (8-4401)
M. Lösche: Thursdays, 8:00 – 10:00, or by appointment (Donna, 8-8367)
Course Objectives
After this course, students should have gained a deeper appreciation of the fact that very basic physical principles underly many central life processes. Life is not only compatible with the laws of physics, it exploits them in ingenious ways. Students should be able to name examples of such situations for which they can provide a coherent line of reasoning outlining the physics-biology connection. Ideally, they should be able to explain key experiments by which these connections either have been found or are nowadays routinely established, and outline simple back-of-the-envelope estimates by which one can convince oneself of either the validity or inapplicability of certain popular models and ideas.
Grading
Biweekly homework problems (50%) plus an end-of-term student presentation (30-40 mins., one each student) on a topic selected in February (50%).
Exam Schedule
There are no exams scheduled in this course.
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Suggested reading (dated May-01):
Click embedded links for PDF reprints
Feb.-01: Fluorescence micrographs of domain formation in a DPPC Langmuir monoayer on water.
Feb.-15: Statistic of bilayer aggregates: average size and size distribution
Feb.-27: Erythrocyte membrane
Feb.-29: Pulling membrane tethers (Hochmuth et al., BJ 1982) – Tether response to osmotic stress (Dai et al., J. Neurosci. 1998) – Cell migration (Sheetz & Dai, Trends Cell Biol. 1996)
Mar.-05: Adsorption of a bilayer on a bilayer (Evans & Metcalfe, BJ 1984) – Diffuse scattering from multibilayer stacks (Nagle et al., 1998–2004) – DIC micrograph of flickering erythrocyte (Sackmann et al. 1992)
Mar.-19: Bilayer asymmetry and profile
Mar.-21: Gramicidin and its channel response to additives
Apr.-09: Phages and DNA packing single molecule experiment
Apr-30: Protein/DNA(RNA) interactions. The ribosome (Steitz & coworkers, Science 2000) – DNA structure – Example for external reading of DNA – The lac repressor and its distinct structures (Kalodimos et al., Science 2004) in the nonspecifically and specifically bound state
Student presentations (30-40 mins.) at the end of the semester term.
Handouts:
Cem Yolcu, Mar-26
Tristan Bereau, Mar-26
Haw Zan Goh, Apr-02
Sidd Shenoy, Apr-02
Laurel Farmer, Apr-11
Sam Rauhala, Apr-11
Stephen Brunner, Apr-16
Prabhanshu Shekhar, Apr-16
Chien-Yi Chen, Apr-23
Ben Sauerwine, Apr-23
Homework 1, due Feb-06
Homework 2, due Feb-20 (corr. 02-14)
Homework 3, due Mar-05
Homework 4, due Mar-26
Homework 5, due Apr-09
Homework 6, due Apr-23