The lectures are stored in the form of PDF files and can be read by Adobe Acrobat Reader (click to download a free copy from Adobe).
Click
to download the PDF file.
PHYS4xx - Biophysics: Mechanics of the Cell is an introductory course on the mechanical
properties of biological cells and may be taken by senior undergraduates or beginning graduate
students interested in soft condensed matter or biophysics.
The support material for the course consists of a 400-page textbook
Mechanics of the Cell
and a set of on-line
lecture notes. Written for senior undergraduates and beginning graduate students, the textbook
is structured so that readers can follow the application of mechanics to biological cells with
minimal reference to the mathematical proofs behind the formalism.
A related set of lectures on statistical mechanics can be found elsewhere in this website, under
PHYS445 - Statistical Mechanics.
Click here for the table of contents of the text and sample material from the first
two chapters.
The lectures are stored in the
form of PDF files and can be read by Adobe
Acrobat Reader (click to download a free copy from Adobe).
Click to download the PDF file.
Lecture 4 - DNA - composition and structure
Lecture 5 - DNA - transcription and replication
Lecture 1 - Flexible filaments
Lecture 2 - Sizes of polymer chains
Lecture 3 - Chain elasticity
Lecture 4 - Biopolymers
Lecture 1 - Soft networks and their deformation
Lecture 2 - Elastic moduli in 2D and 3D
Lecture 3 - Effects of stress and temperature
Lecture 4 - Measurements of biological networks
Lecture 5 - Networks in three dimensions
Supplementary - Entropic networks
Lecture 1 - Movement in the cell
Lecture 2 - Polymerization of actin and tubulin
Lecture 3 - Molecular motors
Lecture 4 - Forces and torques
Lecture 5 - Cell division
Lecture 6 - Tensegrity and buckling
