Physics of Living Systems

Arun ParamekantiAssociate Professor, Physics

Reductionist viewpoint does not imply we can construct macroscale

physics from knowledge of microscale physics

Basis of condensed matter physics, complexity, physicists’ attempts to understand biological systems

Max Delbruck

Dorothy Hodgkin

Erwin Schrodinger

Francis Crick

Marian Smoluchowski

Ludwig Boltzmann

Rosalind Franklin

Max Delbruck

Among the earliest “biophysicists” who converted many physicists to studying problems of biological interest

Nobel Prize in Medicine for work (with Salvador Luria) showing that immunity of bacteria to drugs is caused by

random mutations rather than adaptation

Physics and Biology

Ludwig Boltzmann

Atoms do existKinetic theory of gasesFounder of statistical physics

Thermodynamics and statistical physics

Albert Einstein

Randomness

Studied Brownian motion and provided a theoretical understanding of diffusion - a process of great biological importance as we will see

Marian Smoluchowski

Erwin Schrodinger

Quantum Physics

Theory of Quantum Mechanics (Nobel Prize, Physics)

Author of an influential essay “What is Life?” inspired by Max Delbruck

Dorothy Hodgkin

Francis Crick

Physics Tools[X-ray diffraction]

Applied X-ray crystallography to study an amazing variety of biological molecules - Penicillin, Vitamin B12, Insulin (Nobel Prize in Chemistry)

Worked on the structure of DNA

Rosalind Franklin

PERIODICITY

Regular in timeRegular in space

Body ClocksEmbryogenesis

Quantum mechanics

Oscillations

Light and Sound

RANDOMNESS

ProbabilityChance

Molecular EventsGenetics

EpidimiologyThermodynamicsPhysics Tools

X-ray diffraction (Crystal structure)Nuclear magnetic resonance (MRI)

LecturesWhen: Tue 2pm, Thu 2pm Where: MP134

Labs/TutorialsWhen: Fri 2-4pm (alternate 1 or 2 hrs)Where: MP238

When and Where and Why

TextbookBiological physics: Energy, Information, LifePhilip Nelson (W. H. Freeman)

Reference Random Walks in Biology, H. Berg

Books

Evaluation

Tutorials and Labs: 30%Homework assignments: 20%Midterm: 25%Final Exam: 25%

H1N1 preparedness

http://www.preparedness.utoronto.ca

If unwell, must get doctor’s note or check how to access the “Absence Registry” for any missed term work or exams. If you are at home on account of illness but wish to send in completed term work, you can scan and email it to the TA.

Email: Please put “PHY231” in subject