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Biophysics & Soft Condensed Matter

 

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Papers:  Suggested Readings

General references -- both books and articles -- on soft condensed matter physics and biophysics.  Items marked with a "*" are especially recommended as introductions to my fields of research.

RP's papers can be found at the "Papers" page.

Contents

 

Lab Procedures

At the Bench: A Laboratory Navigator (*)

by Kathy Barker (465 pages, 2004; ISBN 0879697083)

A "handbook" for working in a lab. Full of information and advice -- "biocentric," but very useful.

NOTE: The lab has its own copy of this book.

Soft Condensed Matter Physics

Structured Fluids : Polymers, Colloids, Surfactants

by Thomas A. Witten and Philip A. Pincus (232 pages; Oxford, 2004; ISBN 0198526881)

A recent book on the physics of complex fluids, particularly emphasizing simple, powerful scaling approaches to understanding physical phenomena.

Intermolecular and Surface Forces (*)

by Jacob Israelachvili (450 pages; Academic Press, 1992, 2nd edition; ISBN 0123751810).

Clear, thorough, and relevant to a wide variety of physical, chemical, and biological systems.

NOTE: The lab has its own copy of this book.

 

Biophysics (general)

Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life (*)

by Philip Nelson (600 pages; Freeman 2003; ISBN 0-7167-4372-8)

A recent biophysics textbook (one of the few available) suitable for both undergraduates and graduate students, with clear descriptions of the statistical mechanics underlying many biological phenomena.

Random Walks in Biology (*)

by Howard C. Berg (164 pages; Princeton University Press, 1993; ISBN: 0-691-00064-6)

A classic, this short book explains the physics of diffusion and other random phenomena, and their biological significance.  Highly recommended.

Molecular Driving Forces

by Sarina Bromberg and Ken A. Dill (686 pages; Garland, 2002; ISBN 0815320515)

A recent textbook that explores biophysical chemistry from a statistical mechanics point of view.

Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences

by Ignacio Tinoco, Kenneth Sauer, James C. Wang, Joseph D. Puglisi (740 pages, Prentice Hall, 2001, 4th edition; ISBN 013095943X)

A simple introductory physical chemistry textbook, an excellent source of examples of thermodynamic concerns in biological phenomena.

 

Membrane Biophysics

Nature Insight: Membrane Biology (*)

Nature, Vol. 438, No. 7068 pp. 577-621 (2005).

http://www.nature.com/nature/supplements/insights/membrane_biology/index.html

A series of review articles in Nature on membrane biology.  The papers on curvature (McMahon and Gallop), electrostatics (McLaughlin and Murray), and lipid organization (Maxfield and Tabas) are especially relevant to our group's work.

Structure and Dynamics of Membranes

edited by Reinhard Lipowsky and Erich Sackmann (1036 pages, 2 volumes; Elsevier 1995; ISBN 0-444-81975-4)

Available on-line at: http://www1.elsevier.com/homepage/sak/hbbiophys/contenthome1.html

A sprawling book on the physics of membranes.  Not great, but worth noting.

The fluid mosaic model of the structure of cell membranes (*)

Singer, S. J. & Nicolson, G. L.  (1972) Science 175, 720-731.

A classic paper in which Singer and Nicolson argue that the lipid bilayer forms the basis of cellular membranes, and discuss the implications of this structure.

How proteins produce cellular membrane curvature

Zimmerberg, Joshua and Kozlov, Michael M. (2006) Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 7(1), 9-19.

A recent review on the biological contexts and physical mechanisms behind cellular membrane curvature.

Synaptic pattern formation during cellular recognition

Qi, S. Y., Groves, J. T., & Chakraborty, A. K. (2001) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 6548-6553.

A physical model of pattern formation phenomena important to immune system function, highlighting mechanical aspects of membrane ordering.

Micropattern Formation in Supported Lipid Membranes

Groves, J. T. & Boxer, S. G. (2002) Accounts of Chemical Research 35, 149-157.

A review article on methods for patterning lipid membranes.

 

Biology (general)

Molecular Biology of the Cell (*)

by Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, and Peter Walter (1600 pages; Garland, 2002, 4th edition).

A standard introductory biology textbook, MBOC is massive (1600 pages), but full of useful and fascinating information.  Its figures are exceptionally clear.  It unfortunately treats many controversial or still murky issues as well understood, and is certainly not written from a 'physical' perspective.  Still, it is well worth reading.  The third edition of the book is available free, on-line, through PubMed:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed ; click on 'Books' on the toolbar near the top. Contents: [Link]. Lipid Bilayer Section [Link]

The Variety of Life : A Survey and a Celebration of All the Creatures that Have Ever Lived

by Colin Tudge (684 pages; Oxford, 2000; ISBN 0198503113)

An amazing book.  As the title explains, the author surveys the entire history of life on Earth, as well as discussing the taxonomic means used to classify it.  The topic is fascinating, and the book is full of interesting observations and "fun" facts.

 

Optics and Microscopy

Fundamentals of Light Microscopy and Electronic Imaging

by Douglas B. Murphy (360 pages; Wiley-Liss 2001; ISBN 047125391X)

Nikon's MicroscopyU Web Site

Descriptions of various microscopy techniques.  Some are clear and informative, some are not. Link to "Introduction to Fluorescence Microscopy."

Focus on Detection with QDot (R) Conjugates -- Part I: Detection Basics

Quantum Dot Vision, April 2005, pp. 4-9:  [PDF]

A short, simple introduction to the basics of fluorescence microscopy.  It's from a company that sells quantum dot fluorescent probes, and so is focused on these rather than organic fluorophores, but is nonetheless a good introductory description. 

Optical Trapping

A few papers -- some reviews, some related to holographic optical trap arrays. Not a thorough list.

Optical trapping and manipulation of neutral particles using lasers

Ashkin, A. (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 4853-4860. [link]

A Revolution in Optical Manipulation

Grier, D.G. (2003) Nature 424, 810-816 . [link]

Optical Trapping

Neuman, K. C. & Block, S. M. (2004) Rev. Sci. Instr. 75, 2787-2809 . [link]

Dynamic holographic optical tweezers

Curtis, J. E. , Koss, B. A., & Grier, D. G. (2002) Opt. Comm. 207, 169-175 . [link]

Symmetry dependence of holograms for optical trapping

Curtis, J. E., Schmitz, C. H., & Spatz, J. P. (2004) Opt. Lett . 30, 2086-2088 . [link]

Journals

Journals worth scanning regularly:

Nature

Science

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research -- a monthly compilation of interesting biophysical articles from a variety of journals.

Biophysical Journal

Other journals that often contain articles of interest: Physical Review Letters, Langmuir, Soft Matter, JACS, Journal of Physical Chemistry-B, Physical Review E, Nature Materials, Physical Biology, Reviews of Modern Physics .

 

© 2008 -- Raghuveer Parthasarathy, University of Oregon, Department of Physics and Materials Science Institute.

Unauthorized duplication of images is strictly prohibited!

Contact:  raghu [at] uoregon.edu

Last updated: May 6, 2008