biophysics

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that tries to one, processes in biological systems using the laws of physics to investigate and their measurement methods and describe for another, but also deals with the targeted development and improvement of physical methods to study biological processes . The bionics biophysics can be attributed. In short, biophysics is the application of physics to biological and vice versa. In the German university landscape, biophysics is a small subject .

Questions and problems arise not only from biology but also from medical research and application. Biophysical research therefore requires close collaboration between scientists from the disciplines of physics, biology, chemistry , medicine and their borderline sciences. For this reason, biophysics at universities is not necessarily assigned to the physics department. While biophysics was initially exclusively used by scientists from the above Disciplines (especially physicists), independent biophysics courses have now been set up at several German universities.

term

The word biophysics is made up of the Greek βίος, bios "life" and φυσική (θεωρία), physikē (theōria ) = "natural (research)". Historically, physics began with the description of processes in inanimate nature. Here it is investigated to what extent the knowledge gained can be applied to living nature. The term biophysics was introduced and coined by Boris Rajewsky when the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biophysics was founded, the current MPI for Biophysics.

General principles

Biological objects (starting with individual cells through larger cell assemblies, such as tissue or organs , up to higher organisms ) are extremely complex in their nature. As a rule, biological processes can only be examined integrally using a large number of influencing factors, which in many cases are not independent of one another. This is a major limitation in classical biology.

The essence of physics is to reduce complex systems to a few influencing factors. In biophysics, an attempt is first made to reduce biological systems to a necessary minimum. With the help of physical methods, attempts are then made on these simplified model systems to investigate the processes within the biological system, ideally on the molecular or supramolecular level, and to describe them with the help of physical laws. By correlating the biophysical data with the corresponding biological data, it can be ensured that the model system used is able to adequately describe the biological system. The most important fundamentals for this are the laws of thermodynamics and electrodynamics , but quantum mechanics and classical mechanics are also used. Knowledge of the physical laws and techniques and a detailed understanding of biological systems and the physicochemical properties of the molecules involved are of crucial importance.

In addition, physics has a large number of methods (e.g. from spectroscopy or microscopy ) available which, in their original form, are not suitable for the examination and treatment of biological objects or their individual components (e.g. lipids or proteins ) under physiological conditions are suitable. Another focus of biophysics is the adaptation of these methods for processing biological questions. Furthermore, physical effects are also used in a targeted manner in order to develop new methods based on them that allow the investigation of biological processes. The areas of application of these methods range from almost all areas of biology to medical diagnostics and therapy.

Biophysics is a link between biology and, in addition to physics, a large number of other scientific disciplines, such as medicine , medical technology , chemistry , biochemistry , physical chemistry, computer science, etc. Biophysical research therefore requires close collaboration between scientists from different disciplines is therefore often not only operated in physical institutes. Often biophysically oriented working groups can also be found in biological, chemical, pharmacological and medical departments or faculties .

Sub-areas

Like most other natural sciences , biophysics is also subdivided into different sub-areas. However, the sub-areas partially overlap, and a specific biological question can therefore rarely be clearly assigned to a sub-area.

The different sub-areas are briefly presented below:

Important biophysicists and researchers important to biophysics

Biophysics in Germany

research

In Germany, university biophysical institutes and departments are mostly attached to the mathematical and natural sciences, but also to the medical faculties. In addition to the universities, biophysical research is also carried out at institutes of the Leibniz Association and the Max Planck Society . There are also some biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that have their own biophysics departments.

Teaching

Biophysics is taught at many universities - partly as a minor, partly as a specialization subject or partly as an independent course of study. Biophysics can be approached from a biological or a physical direction. Mostly, however, biophysics is only a major or minor subject for physics students. However, many universities offer a doctorate in biophysics. The number of universities that also offer biophysics as a diploma , master's and bachelor's degree is increasing.

German Society for Biophysics

The German biophysicists are organized in the German Society for Biophysics (DGfB). This is a member of the European Biophysical Societies' Association (EBSA) and the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB). The largest and most important biophysical society is the Biophysical Society , the American biophysical society in which Germans can also become members.

literature

Reference books

  • Erich Sackmann, Rudolf Merkel: Textbook of Biophysics. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-527-40535-0 .
  • Gerold Adam, Peter Läuger, Günther Stark: Physical chemistry and biophysics. Springer, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-540-00066-6 .
  • Rodney Cotterill: Biophysics. An introduction. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-527-40686-9 .
  • Glaser: biophysics. 4th edition. UTB, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8252-8116-7 .
  • Hoppe, Lohmann, Markl, Ziegler (eds.): Biophysics. Springer, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-540-11335-5 .
  • Michel Daune: Molecular Biophysics. Springer, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-540-67046-7 .
  • Siegfried Kiontke: Physics of biological systems. Vitatec, Münsing 2006, ISBN 3-00-019701-X .
  • Philip Nelson: Biological Physics. Freeman, New York 2004, ISBN 0-7167-4372-8 .
  • Bengt Nölting: Methods in Modern Biophysics. 2nd Edition. Springer, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-540-27703-X .
  • Helmut Pfützner: Applied Biophysics. Springer, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-211-00876-4 .
  • Volker Schünemann: Biophysics . Springer, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-540-21163-2 .
  • Helmut A. Tritthart (Ed.): Medical Physics and Biophysics. Schattauer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-7945-2054-8 .
  • Roland Winter, Frank Noll: Methods of biophysical chemistry. Teubner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-519-03518-9 .
  • Nicolau Beckmann: In-Vivo MR Spectroscopy. Potential and Limitations. Springer, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-540-55029-1 ( In Vivo Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Volume 3).
  • Philipp OJ Scherer, Sighart F. Fischer: Theoretical Molecular Biophysics. Springer 2010, ISBN 978-3-540-85609-2
  • Werner Mäntele: Biophysics. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8252-3270-2

Trade journals

Web links

Wiktionary: Biophysics  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Small subjects: Biophysics on the Kleine Fächer portal. Retrieved June 12, 2019 .
  2. ↑ About the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics .