Post on 20-Jan-2016
Thanks! to:Paul HicksonScott StubbsJeff YoungJanis McKennaOliva dela Cruz-CorderoCarlotta SpinoThe grad tour guides, including Jake Bobowski and Lara Thompson
You for coming!
Biophysics
Biophysics (also biological physics) is an interdisciplinary sciencethat applies the theories and methods of physics, to questions of biology.
Wolfgang E. Pauli:“Festkörperphysik ist eine Schmutzphysik.”
“Condensed matter physics is the physics of dirt.”
“Physics-envy is the curse of biology”-- Joel Cohen (population biologist)
The dynamics of life
AND
BND
What quantity can tell us how far a structure is from folded?
Should be a geometrical quantity depending only on the 2 structures considered.
We generalize the treatment of distance between points to find the distance between any two space curves.
22 2
0 0
[ , ]L T
Nambu GotoS s t ds dt r r r r r
s
r
r
Applications to proteins.Structures with
, MIN MAXD D
Gastrulation ina fly embryo
Why is our head at the anterior? (meaningless)Why is our heart on the left? (meaningful)
Turing (1952), Morphogenesis:
Laws of physics E & M are LR symmetricThe initial distribution of embryos is LR symmetricThe distribution of fluctuations is LR symmetric
why not 50/50?
Amino acids are chiral!Microscopic chirality macroscopic handedness
UBC Engineering Physics
Forensic DNA analysis
We invented a way to find as few as 10 molecules of DNA in a glass of water!
Applications: forensics, water safety, cancer detection
Andre Marziali
Carl Michal – Solid-State NMR of biological materials
Structure-properties-function relationships
Q
Spider silk
Sea-snail (whelk) egg capsule Hagfish slime threads
Why study biophysics?
• Interesting science questions, interesting systems• Quantitative tools (analytical and computational)
are necessary for solutions, bio is becoming more quantitative.
• Active and relatively new area of research with much opportunity.
• Significant and growing interest in the field.
Fusion of HIV virus w a cell