Advanced biophysics

Diploma(s)
Place
Sorbonne Université
Fall semester
Level Master 2 6 ECTS - English
Compulsory for the Soft matter and biological physics track
Instructor(s) Martin LENZ ( CNRS ) Aleksandra WALCZAK ( CNRS )
Education office

The Advanced Biophysics Course is a lecture course that covers modern concepts in experimental and theoretical physics of living systems, in the broadest sense.

Image
bacteria

Image N. Desprat (LPENS)

We will present theoretical ideas and illustrate them with experiments that show how these ideas are relevant for real systems, at the same time presenting modern experimental techniques. 

The topics covered by the course will include : cytoskeleton physics, tissue mechanics, non-equilibrium molecular motors, gene regulation, evolution, neuroscience, among others. The concepts covered will include landscape theory, non-equilibrium phenomena, nonlinear physics, stochastic processes, information theory applied to living systems, among others.

Each week there will be 2 hours of lectures followed by 2 hours of problem sessions. The problem sessions will include both traditional pen and paper problems, computational exercises and projects.

Syllabus
  1. Gene regulation
  2. Chromosome structure
  3. Gene networks
  4. Protein folding
  5. Noise in gene regulation
  6. Protein self-assembly
  7. Introduction to evolution
  8. Cytoskeletal elasticity
  9. Introduction to neuroscience
  10. Membraneless organelles
  11. Information theory
  12. Detecting nonequilibrium phenomena
Prerequisites
Evaluation

The course will be evaluated based on project presentations + 2 midterms during the year. Oral Examination.