1. What is biophysics? 2. How big are molecules, what are special features of biological matter? 3. Energy in living systems. Thermodynamics and metabolism. Enzymes. 4. Flow of genetic information. DNA. Central Dogma of Molecular Biology. 5. Proteins, membranes and their structures. 6. Free energy in biology. Chemical equillibrium. 7. Propagation of signals along neurons. Ion channels. 8. Hormones, homeostasis, regulation, biocatalysis and drugs. 9. Oxygen pathways in human body. 10. Spectroscopies in biophysical research: Lambert-Bear Law, Jablonski diagram, absorption vs fluorescent spectroscopy, IR and Raman, NMR and EPR. 11. AFM, optical tweezers and single molecule nanomechanics. 12. Computer modeling of biomolecules I (fundamentals) 13. Computer modeling of biomolecules II (free energy, advanced methods) Exercises: A. Thermodynamics – basic concepts. Classical problems solutions. B. Protein structure (pdb, vmd, visualization software) – practical tutorial. C. Practical MD simulations: case studies, computer data analysis. D. Demonstration of AFM biophysical measurements (in the Lab).
