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BiophysicsUndergraduate Program - http://www.lsa.umich.edu/saa/publications/bulletin/biophys/index.htmlResearchBiophysics is a highly interdisciplinary field which attempts to bridge the gap between biology and physics. The bridging of the two sciences can be either experimental (e.g., applying novel spectroscopies or microscopies to important problems in molecular or cellular biology) or theoretical (e.g., applying soft condensed matter theories of mechanical, phase transition, or thermodynamic properties to biological membranes or complexity theory to understanding biological self-organization). Often in biophysics, both experimental and theoretical work is done in the same group. In the Physics Department at the University of Michigan, a number of physics faculty members devote all or much of their research efforts to biophysics, and over the years many students have achieved Physics Ph.D.'s with a specialty in biophysics.Some of the biophysics research at Michigan is centered in the Biophysics Research Division, located in a contiguous complex of modern laboratories near the Physics Department. Faculty from several departments - Physics, Biology, Biological Chemistry and Chemistry - comprise the division, and faculty from Pharmacy, Physiology, Cell Biology and Anatomy, Dermatology, Pharmacology, the Dental School, and others frequently collaborate in research. Faculty in BiophysicsHere are some of the active professors whose groups are involved with biophysics:Daniel Axelrod - Studies the development of novel optical fluorescence microscopy and imaging techniques for cell biology, dynamics of biological membranes and cell surfaces, biophysics of secretion from cells. Samuel Krimm - Studies the application of infrared and Raman spectroscopy for studying the three-dimensional structures of peptides and proteins; development of potential energy functions for studying the conformation and molecular dynamics of biomacromolecules. Duncan Steel - Studies the development and application of optical and laser based methodologies to the study of protein conformation; near-field optical spectrometry for studies in a living cell. In addition, other physics faculty are interested in biophysical applications of projects which also have a nonbiological importance. Franco Nori - Theory of transport in disordered materials. Robert Savit - Theory of nonlinear and adaptive complex systems. Brad Orr - Scanning microscopies--force, thermal, tunneling--for studying surfaces at high resolution. Jens-Christian Meiners - Experimental biophysics with single DNA molecules--statistical mechanics of DNA, mechanics of transcriptional control of gene expression, use and development of laser tweezers for ultra-sensitive force measurements. Michal Zochowski - Theoretical and experimental studies of neural integration. Len Sander - Theory of self organization. Faculty in Medical PhysicsA biophysics-related, but more medically-oriented specialty within physics, is medical physics, particularly in the groups of: Non-Physics Faculty in BiophysicsUpon specific approval, it is not unusual for Physics graduate students to do their biophysics thesis work in the groups of non-physics faculty at the University of Michigan while still achieving a physics Ph.D. Examples of such groups are: Raoul Kopelman - Chemistry, with joint appointment in physics; near-field scanning optical microscopy on cells; fluorescence-based microprobes in living cells. Theodore Norris - Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; ultrafast and adaptive laser optics; fluorescence lifetime imaging on cells. Erik Zuiderweg - Biological Chemistry; multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance of proteins. Related ProgramsAn entirely distinct program available at the University of Michigan leads to a Ph.D. in biophysics (rather than physics). The Biophysics Ph.D. Program is centered in the Biophysics Research Division. Several of the above listed physics groups are involved in the Biophysics Ph.D. Program, which also involves numerous non-Physics groups that emphasize structure and function of biological molecules. Other research activities at Michigan related to biophysics and possibly accessible to Physics Ph.D. Program students are the: Applied Physics Program; Center for Ultrafast Optical Sciences; Bioengineering Program; and Complex Systems Program. |
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