The Physics of Living Processes: A Mesoscopic Approach

This full-colour undergraduate textbook, based on a two semester course, presents the fundamentals of biological physics, introducing essential modern topics that include cells, polymers, polyelectrolytes, membranes, liquid crystals, phase transitions, self-assembly, photonics, fluid mechanics, motility, chemical kinetics, enzyme kinetics, systems biology, nerves, physiology, the senses, and the brain. The comprehensive coverage, featuring in-depth explanations of recent rapid developments, demonstrates this to be one of the most diverse of modern scientific disciplines.

The Physics of Living Processes: A Mesoscopic Approach is comprised of five principal sections:

• Building Blocks
• Soft Condensed Matter Techniques in Biology
• Experimental Techniques
• Systems Biology
• Spikes, Brains and the Senses

The unique focus is predominantly on the mesoscale — structures on length scales between those of atoms and the macroscopic behaviour of whole organisms. The connections between molecules and their emergent biological phenomena provide a novel integrated perspective on biological physics, making this an important text across a variety of scientific disciplines including biophysics, physics, physical chemistry, chemical engineering and bioengineering.

An extensive set of worked tutorial questions are included, which will equip the reader with a range of new physical tools to approach problems in the life sciences from medicine, pharmaceutical science and agriculture.

Table of Contents

Part I: Building Blocks
Chapter 1 Molecules
Chapter 2 Cells

Part II Soft Condensed-Matter Techniques in Biology
Chapter 3 Introduction to Statistics in Biology
Chapter 4 Mesoscopic Forces
Chapter 5 Phase Transitions
Chapter 6 Liquid Crystallinity
Chapter 7 Motility
Chapter 8 Aggregating Self-Assembly
Chapter 9 Surface Phenomena
Chapter 10 Biomacromolecules
Chapter 11 Charged Ions and Polymers
Chapter 12 Membranes
Chapter 13 Continuum Mechanics
Chapter 14 Fluid Mechanics
Chapter 15 Rheology
Chapter 16 Motors
Chapter 17 Structural Biomaterials
Chapter 18 Phase Behaviour of DNA

Part III Experimental Techniques
Chapter 19 Experimental Techniques

Part IV Systems Biology
Chapter 20 Chemical Kinetics
Chapter 21 Enzyme Kinetics
Chapter 22 Introduction to Systems Biology

Part V Spikes, Brains and the Senses
Chapter 23 Spikes
Chapter 24 Physiology of Cells and Organisms
Chapter 25 The Senses
Chapter 26 Brains