NFYK11005U Cell Mechanics

Skills  
The course will enable the students to:

• Calculate the physics of polymers, use this to theoretically predict the typical physical size of a polymer under given conditions and predict flexibility and elasticity of polymer chains. Utilize this knowledge on the most commonly encountered biological polymers inside a living system.
• Derive the physical properties of two- and three-dimensional networks. Be able to use elasticity theory in two and three dimensions, predict properties of networks with different number of coordinations and symmetries. Also, the student will be able to use these theories on actual biological systems such as membrane associated networks.
• Use knowledge of biomembrane constituents to predict the composition and self-assembled structuring of biomembranes. Also, knowledge of theory regarding the energy of curved surfaces will allow the student to calculate the energy associated with different geometric structuring of biological sheets.
• Using energetics, the student will be able to predict the shapes of simple organisms under a variety of conditions and apply this knowledge to, e.g., blood cells and simple bacteria.

Knowledge
The course will enable the students to:

• Understand the forces arising from electrostatic interactions within a living organism. These forces include van der Walls and electrostatic interactions and entropic repulsion of sheets and polymers. This is very useful for understanding, e.g., adhesion processes in a variety of systems.
• Understand how simple motion of living organisms comes about. This includes understanding the polymerization of basic biopolymers such as actin and tubulin, explaining the mechanisms behind the procession of molecular motors, and the ability to calculate quantitatively the forces exerted. Obtain knowledge of most famous models for polymerization, e.g. the Oosawa model and tread-milling. Use this knowledge to understand how serious diseases as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s develop.
• Formulate and understand the tensegrity structures of living cells and organisms, use this to predict the size requirements and optimal shapes and sizes of living organisms.
• Formulate physics models, that are both qualitatively and quantitatively testable for biological systems.
• Obtain a general overview of the entire field with some knowledge of the status of international research in the field of cell mechanics.

 
Competences
Through the course the student will learn to apply the methods of physics, in particular statistical physics and elasticity theory, to obtain a quantitative description of complex biological systems. Through this, fundamental knowledge will be gained concerning mechanical properties of living matter and our molecular building blocks.