Biological physics

The course aims to give a general introduction to cellular and molecular biology, and to put into context the use of modern physics, with its quantitative methods and approaches, to describe biological systems and their complexity from the molecular to the cellular and tissue scales.

Quantifying phenomena, their physical interpretation and physico-mathematical modeling are also fundamental aspects of the course. The course opens up to philosophy and to the whole range of themes of this Master's program, centered on the study of the physical principles of the organization and dynamics of living, complex matter.

• Understand the biological cell, its molecular components and main functions.
• Understand how physical and chemical interactions influence the properties of biomolecules (diffusion, self-assembly, conformational changes, ...), related assemblies (cytoskeleton, cytoplasm, nucleus and nucleoplasm, membranes, macromolecular droplets, ...) and other phenomena (intracellular transport, cytoskeletal dynamics, nuclear organization, cell mitosis, cell motility, ...), in vitro (bio-mimetic approach), within the cell and between cells.
• Detect and control the relevant parameters and orders of magnitude characteristic of these properties, assemblies and phenomena.
• Understand the principles of the experimental methods used to measure these parameters.
• Relate physico-chemical phenomena to biological observations in vitro and in vivo (in bacteria, viruses, circulating or adherent cells, etc.).
• Extract information, analyze data and acquire methodological concepts from scientific articles to quantify biological processes, working in small teams of students in class or at home.
• Learn the interdisciplinary language of biology at the new frontiers of the physical and material sciences.

Bachelor's degree in Physics, Physics-Chemistry or equivalent