Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
---|---|---|---|
2500097 Physics | OT | 3 | 1 |
It is advisable to have some general knowledge aon chemistry and biology, at a high school level.
The fields of physics most employed during the course will be Thermodynamics, Elasticity, Electricity and Magnetism. So that, it is advisable to have followed courses on these topics in the previous years of the degree. In particular, students should have followed courses on theor second year the courses on 'Electromagnetism' and 'Matter Structure and Thermodynamics'.
This course tries to provide a panoramic, but not exhaustive, introduction to biophysics. The main goal is that physics students have a first touch of physical analysis of problems that lie at the fontier with biology (and, often, with biochemistry), and become aware of the richness of problems in biology for which the tools and methods from physics are extremely worthy. Likewise, the course introduces several ideas at a basic level that can help the students to face in the future more advances courses related to biology, biotechnology, bioinformatics or complex systems.
1. Chemical foundatiosn of biophysics.
We start the course by reviewing the essential properties of macromolecules, centering our attention on proteins and DNA (their elements, structure, and mechanical and electrical properties). Then we study some physical aspects of macromolecules, focused on molecular pumps and engines. At the cell level, we introduce basic ideas about metabolism, and the main structural and transport properties of the cell membrane, with a special emphasis given to the behavior of the neuronal system (individual neurons, networks, and the brain). Finally we introduce several basic ideas about population dynamics and evolution, and the role that physics play in the latter (in particular how evolution have found solutions to overcome the physical difficulties to the movement or to the energy income of living organisms).
Lessons of theory will be based on a methodology in which every day some previous material will be avilable (in video or pdf) as an introduction to the topic that will be discussed and presented in the class. Also, some questions will be posed in that material in order to promote an online discussion through the Moodle room. These online dicussions will atually be part of the evaluation activities of the course. At the end of each topic, some optional exercises will be proposed for the students to check if they have satisfactorily understood the essential concepts of that topic.
Practical lessons will be used to discuss in group and solve the exercises from the main list of the course.
We will employ 15 minutes from the last session of the course to let the students answer the instituional survey about the course.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|
Type: Directed | |||
Practical classes | 14 | 0.56 | 4, 1, 2, 18 |
Theoretical classes | 27 | 1.08 | 11, 8, 5, 7, 10, 6, 9, 12, 14, 13, 19, 21 |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Mentoring sessions | 5 | 0.2 | 18 |
Project and autonomous exercises | 18 | 0.72 | 1, 2, 10, 18, 21 |
Study | 53 | 2.12 | 11, 8, 5, 7, 10, 6, 9, 12, 14, 13 |
Partial exams: Two partial exams during the course, the second having a larger weight on the final mark (since the quantity of contents in it will be also larger).
Presentation project: It consists of a project (in groups of two students, with a different topic for each group) about a topic of current relevance in biophysics. This activity will have the form of an oral presentation to be recorded by the students in video (equipments and resources necessary for it will be available).
Participation in the discussion forums: To evaluate the continous work of the student during the course, the participation (both in terms of constancy and through the level of the contributions) in the discussion forums that will be open in the Moodle room throughout the course will be taken into account.
To pass the course it is necessary to have a global mark of 5 (over 10) and having obtained a minimum mark of 3,5 in each of the two partial exams.
Those students that have taken the partial exams but have not obtained the minimum mark of 3,5 (or those who have not obtained a final mark of 5) have the option to attend a referral exam.
The Presentation project and the participation in the discussions will be considered as activities that cannot be re-assessed.
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Partial exam 1 | 35/100 | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 1, 2, 11, 8, 5, 7, 10, 6, 9, 12, 14, 13, 18, 19, 21 |
Partial exam 2 | 40/100 | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 1, 2, 11, 8, 5, 7, 10, 6, 9, 12, 14, 13, 18, 21 |
Participation in the discussion forums | 10/100 | 2 | 0.08 | 3, 15, 17, 16, 19, 20 |
Presentation project | 15/100 | 2 | 0.08 | 3, 15, 17, 19, 20 |
Main references
P. Nelson, Física biológica, Ed. Reverté, Barcelona, 2005 (disponible online a través de la biblioteca UAB)
F. Cleri. The physics of Living Systems. Springer-Verlag, 2016 (disponible online a través de la biblioteca UAB)
R. Phillips, J. Kondev, J. Theriot, H. G. García, Physical biology of the cell, (Garland Science, 2013)
J. Kuriyan, B. Konforti and D. Wemmer. The molecules of life (Garland Science, 2013)
F. Cussó, C. López and R. Villar, Física de los procesos biológicos, Ariel, Barcelona,
2004
D. Jou, J. E. Llebot i C. Pérez-García, Física para las ciencias de la vida, Mc Graw
Hill, Madrid, 1994
T.M. Nordlund. Quantitative understanding of biosystems. (CRC Press, 2011)
M. Ortuño, Física para biología, medicina, veterinaria y farmacia, Crítica, Barcelona,
1996
J. W. Kane i M. M. Sternheim, Física para las ciencias de la vida, Reverté, Barcelona,
1987
B. B. Benedek and F.M.H. Villars, Physics, with illustrative examples from biology (3
vols), Addison-Wesley, 1979
T. F. Weiss, Cellular biophysics (2 vols), Bradford Books, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1996
R.K. Hobbie, Intermediate physics for medicine and biology. Wiley, 1978
W. Bialek. Biophysics: Searching for principles. Princeton Univ. Press, 2012
C. Blomberg. Physics of life. Elsevier, 2007
R. Cotterill. Biophysics. An introduction. John Wiley & Sons, 2002
J.L. Nadeau. Introduction to ExperimentalBiophysics. CRC PRess, 2018
D. Johnston and S.M.-S. Wu. Foundations of cellular neurophysiology. MIT Press, 1995
This course does not require the use of any specific software.
Only for the presentation in video, software of broacasting and edition (OBS; Shotcut, ...) will be necessary.