Research and education at the crossroads of biology and physics

摘要

The fields of biology and physics have a long history of interconnection. While modern formal curriculum in biological physics is relatively new, research in the many subfields of biological physics have a rich history. For example, experiments in physiology and optics occurred as far back as the mid 1800s. The subfields of medical physics, synthetic biology, biotechnology, and single-cell physics, to name just a few, are tied together by models and methodologies from both physics and biology. This melding often allows researchers to explore exciting science over wide ranges of length, time, and energy. Biological physics is a field that parameterizes nature across many orders of magnitude: from bond lengths within a DNA molecule to the size of ecosystems, from chemical reaction and cell diffusion times to mammalian life spans and evolutionary timescales, and from weak bonding and oxidation energies to the global output of photosynthetic harnessing species. This merging of disciplines leads to exciting and diverse instructional opportunities.