Forces at cell and molecular level. Kinetics of ionic channles. Analysis of the sensorial input by the biological systems. High resolution structural studies. Single molecule spectroscopy.
J. Howard: Mechanics of motor proteins and the cytoskeleton - Sinauer Ass. Inc.
H.C. Berg: Random walks in Biology - Princeton University Press
Modern Tools of Biophysics Editors: Jue, Thomas (Ed.) Springer
Handbook of Molecular Force Spectroscopy . A. Noy (Ed.) Springer
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired:
Magnitude of forces at cell and molecular level. Examples of biophysical methods and applications to the study of physiological problems.
Competence acquired:
Analysis of experimental results and simulations of biological systems at molecular level. Looking for protein structures available on the Protein Data Bank web sites: structure visualization and analysis.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
Capability to understand a biological problem and to find the adequate techniques and methods for quantitative modelling.
Prerequisites
Physics, Chemistry
Teaching Methods
Lectures, computer simulations, exercises in laboratory
Further information
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Type of Assessment
The exam will be a colloquium to verify how the student is able to evaluate the forces that act at the level of the biomolecules and the applications in selected physiological problems.
It will be also evaluated the ability to identify the possible applications and the limits of some biophysical techniques studied in the course.
Course program
Magnitude of forces at the molecular level. Elements of cell physiology: cell membrane; active and passive transport; Structure-function relation of biological molecules: ionic channels; muscle and cell motility. Optical limits of the visual acuity. Signal analysis in the organ of Corti.
Biophysical techniques:
Structural studies with X-ray diffraction: protein crystallography; small angle diffraction; fibre diffraction.
Single molecule studies:
Manipulating: Atomic force miscroscopy; optical trap; magnetic tweezers; biomembrane force probe.
Revealing
Single molecule detection: single molecule fluorescence; fluorescence energy transfer (FRET).
fluorescence microscopy: time-lapse microscopy; total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF).
Super resolution microscopy: Photo Activated Localization Microscopy (PALM); Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM); Stimulated Emission Depletion Microscopy (STED).