Physics of Biological Systems: From Molecules to Species

This book contains pedagogical introductions to a selection of the most exciting subjects in current biological physics: sorting DNA on a microchip: a first step towards miniature laboratories on a chip; modeling protein folding, structure, and motion; physics of organelles: mechanical characteristics of molecular motors; dynamics of microtubules; shapes of membranes, vesicles and cells; a physicist's view of brains and neurons; statistics of sensory signal processing; evolutionary biology of molecules; pattern forming bacterial colonies; model ecologies with Darwinian co-evolution. The book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in physics, biology and mathematical modeling who have no prior knowledge of its