Physics of Bio-Molecules and Cells

Book excerpt: Aimed at those working to enter this rapidly developing field, this volume on biological physics is written in a pedagogical style by leading scientists giving explanations that take their starting point where any physicist can follow and end at the frontier of research in biological physics. These lectures describe the state-of-the-art physics of biomolecules and cells. In biological systems ranging from single biomolecules to entire cells and larger biological systems, it focuses on aspects that require concepts and methods from physics for their analysis and understanding, such as the mechanics of motor proteins; how the genetic code is physically read and managed; the machinery of protein--DNA interactions; force spectroscopy of biomolecules' velopes, cytoskeletons, and cytoplasms; polymerization forces; listeria propulsion; cell motility; lab-on-a-chip nanotechnology for single-molecule analysis of biomolecules; bioinformatics; and coding and computational strategies of the brain.