LEC 1 (Introduction to Biophysics) PDF

INTRODUCTION TO BIOPHYSICS Prepared by Nurdiana Samsulrizal & Dzulsuhaimi Daud  LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will be able to: Define the fundamental concepts of biophysics. Understand the integration of physical theory into biological processes. Identify the biop...

INTRODUCTION TO BIOPHYSICS Prepared by Nurdiana Samsulrizal & Dzulsuhaimi Daud  LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will 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 “Physics for biologists”, or “physical methods applied to biology” It is a modern, interdisciplinary field of science leading to new approaches for our understanding of biological functions. Paradigm: “Biological system is not simply the sum of its molecular components but is rather their functional integration” MATHEMATICS + PHYSICS + BIOLOGY + CHEMISTRY  WHAT IS BIOPHYSICS? Biophysics is an interdisciplinary field which applies techniques from the physical sciences to understanding biological structure and function (British Biological Society). Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies the theories and methods of physical sciences, to questions of biology (Wikipedia). Biophysics is the application of the analytical viewpoints, methods and/or instrumentation of physics to the investigation of biological problems (European Biophysics Society).  STUDY 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 DO PROTEIN FOLD? X-ray crystallography Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Scanning Probe Microscopy Recombinant DNA Computational/images system NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY  HOW DO BIOMOLECULES ASSEMBLE AND INTERACT? Synthesize of Proteins  HOW DO BIOMOLECULES ASSEMBLE AND INTERACT?  APPLICATION OF BIOPHYSICS Quantitative analysis of the physical and chemical aspect of the functions of biological molecules and organism. Theoretical biophysics tries to use mathematical and physical models to explain life processes. In physiological biophysics, physical mechanisms have been used to explain such biological processes 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.  APPLICATION OF BIOPHYSICS Paper chromatography, a direct development of adsorption techniques, is widely used to analyse 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..  APPLICATION OF BIOPHYSICS Measuring blood pressure by sphygmomanometer. Computational tomography (CT) scan to produce cross sectional images. 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. Fluorescence microscopy of endothelial cells using three labels. Red labels the mitochondria, green labels the F-actine cytoskeleton and blue labels the nucleus.  REVIEW Gene therapy Biomolecular Physics interactions BIOLOG Mathema tics Y Protein Regulation of Chemistr structure & gene y functions ?