PHYS4xx/8xx - Biophysics: Mechanics of the Cell is an introductory course on the mechanical
properties of biological cells and may be taken by senior undergraduates or graduate students interested
in soft condensed matter or biophysics. The support material for the course consists of the 600-page textbook
Mechanics of the Cell
and a set of on-line lecture notes. The textbook is structured so that readers can follow the application
of mechanics to biological cells with minimal reference to the mathematical proofs behind the formalism.
A related set of lectures on statistical mechanics can be found elsewhere in this website, under
PHYS445 - Statistical Mechanics.
The lectures are stored in the form of PDF files and can be read by Adobe
Acrobat Reader (click to download a free copy from Adobe).
Lecture 1 - Cell sizes, shapes and structures
Lecture 2 - Molecular building blocks
Lecture 3 - DNA - composition and structure
Lecture 4 - Soft materials and the Boltzmann factor
Lecture 5 - Forces and movement in a viscous environment
Lecture 1 - Flexible filaments
Lecture 2 - Sizes of polymer chains
Lecture 3 - Chain elasticity
Lecture 4 - Bending resistance of biopolymers
Lecture 5 - Torsion, twist and writhe
Lecture 6 - Models for protein folding
Lecture 1 - Soft networks and their deformation
Lecture 2 - Elastic moduli in 2D
Lecture 3 - Properties of two-dimensional networks
Lecture 4 - Elasticity in three dimensions
Lecture 5 - Three dimensional networks in the cell
Lecture 6 - Network percolation and failure
Lecture 1 - Composition and self-assembly of biomembranes
Lecture 2 - Bilayer compression and bending resistance
Lecture 3 - Mechanical instability and failure
Lecture 4 - Membrane bending and persistence length
Lecture 5 - Charged plate in an electrolyte
Lecture 6 - van der Waals and electrostatic interactions
Lecture 7 - The action potential in nerves
Lecture 8 - Model for signal propagation
Lecture 1 - Energetics of the bilayer
Lecture 2 - Vesicles and the human erythrocyte
Lecture 3 - Movement in the cell
Lecture 4 - Forces and torques
Lecture 5 - Polymerization of actin and tubulin
Lecture 6 - Molecular motors
Lecture 1 - Cell division
Lecture 2 - Rate equations: switches and stability
Lecture 3 - Replicating the blueprint
Lecture 4 - Molecular basis of regulation
Supplement 1 - Chemical bonding
