INTRODUCTION TO BIOPHYSICS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
 LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of this topic, student should be
able to:

Define the fundamental concepts of

biophysics.
Understand the integration of physical
theory into biological processes.
Identify the biophysics tools for biology and
health industry.
 INTRODUCTION
 Understanding biology using ‘some’ ideas
from physics/chemistry/maths etc.
 Need to know biology in order to do
biophysics.

Using physics to understand biology.

Not biology to understand physics!!
 WHAT IS BIOPHYSICS?
BIOLOGY + PHYSICS + MATHEMATICS + CHEMISTRY

“Physics for biologists”, or “physical methods applied to

biology”

It is a modern, interdisciplinary field of science that

applies theory of physics in order to understand
biological functions.

Paradigm: “Biological system is not simply the sum of its

molecular components but is rather their functional
integration”
 WHAT IS BIOPHYSICS?
 Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that
applies the theories and methods of physical
sciences, to questions of biology (Wikipedia).
 Interdisciplinary field which applies techniques
from the physical sciences to understand biological
structure and function (British Biological Society)
 Application of the analytical viewpoints, methods
and/or instrumentation of physics to investigate
biological problems (European Biophysics Society).
 STUDY AREA OF BIOPHYSICS
 Biology and molecular biology
 Gene regulation, single protein dynamics, bioenergetics
and biomechanics.
 Structural biology
 Nucleic acid, lipids, carbohydrates and their complexes.
 Bioinformatics
 Sequence alignment, structural alignment and protein
structure prediction.
 Medicine and neuroscience
 Membrane permittivity, gene therapy
 Pharmacology
 Channel biology, biomolecular interactions, cellular
membranes.
 HOW BIOPHYSICS HELP US?
Biophysics able to explain the process asked by
biologist such as;
How do protein fold?
How are genes turned on and off?
How do biomolecules assemble and interact?
What is molecular structure of cell membrane?
How do animals respond to sound and smell?
How do cell move?
How does the nervous system work?
 HOW BIOPHYSICS HELP US?
 How do protein fold?

X-ray crystallography

Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance (NMR)

Computational/images
system (Bioinformatics)
 HOW BIOPHYSICS HELP US?
 How do biomolecules assemble and interact?

Synthesize of Proteins
APPLICATIONS OF BIOPHYSICS
 Quantitative analysis - physical and chemical
aspect of the functions of biological molecules and
organism
 Theoretical biophysics - use mathematical and
physical models to explain life processes
 Physiological biophysics - Use physical to explain
biological processes such as the transmission of
nerve impulses, the muscle contraction mechanism
and the visual mechanism
 Radiation biophysics studies the response of
organisms to various kinds of radiations
APPLICATIONS OF BIOPHYSICS
 Paper chromatography, a direct development of
adsorption techniques is widely used to analyze
tissues for chemical components

 X-ray crystallography is used to determine

molecular structures and has been useful with such
problems as the complex structure of protein
APPLICATIONS OF BIOPHYSICS
 Measuring blood pressure by sphygmomanometer.
 Computational tomography (CT) scan to produce
cross sectional images.
APPLICATIONS OF BIOPHYSICS
 X-ray images widely used in medicine and
dentistry to produce images of the internal
structure of objects.
 Ultrasound sonography – imaging technique that
does not use ionising radiation instead it utilises
high frequency acoustic vibrations.
 IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING
BIOPHYSICS
Provide insight and technologies for meeting
current and future challenges, based on the
principle of physic and mechanism of biology
Understand biological systems more thoroughly
at every level, from atoms and molecules to cells,
organism and environment
 Discover biological cycle of heat, light, water,
carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and organism.
Harnesses microorganisms to clean our water
and to produce lifesaving drugs.
BIOPHYSICS IS MAGIC!!

Fluorescence microscopy
of endothelial cells using
three labels. Red labels
the mitochondria, green
labels the actin
cytoskeleton and blue
labels the nucleus.
 BIOPHYSICIST
Physical and biological background;

 Luigi Galvani: Electrochemistry & neurophysiology

 Thomas Young: Pioneer in optics & vision
 Herman Von Helmoltz: Electromagnetism,
thermodynamics, color theory, color vision &
physiological acoustics
 Max Perulz & John Kendrew: X-ray
crystallography & 3-D structure of protein
 Watson-Crick: DNA molecule
 Brussel’s Group: Bioenergetics
 REVIEW
Gene therapy Biomolecular
Physics interactions

Mathematics
BIOLOGY

Protein structure Regulation of

& functions gene
Chemistry