| Course Name | Introductory Biophysics |
| Course Code | 25BIO215 |
| Program | B. Sc. (Hons.) Biotechnology and Integrated Systems Biology |
| Semester | 6 |
| Credits | 2 |
| Campus | Amritapuri |
Thermodynamics of living systems: Conservation of energy in living systems, Entropy and Life, Gibbs and Standard free energy, Equilibrium constant, Activation energy and living cells, Coupled reactions.
Protein folding: Forces for protein stability, Protein denaturation and renaturation, Protein folding pathways, Levinthal?s paradox, Molten globule, Folding accessory proteins, Prediction of protein structures.
Protein function: Structure of heme, Structure of Myoglobin and hemoglobin, Oxygen binding mechanism, Oxygen binding co-operativity, Hill equation, Hill coefficient, Allostery in hemoglobin, Bohr effect, Hemoglobin abnormalities.
Dynamics of biomolecules: Diffusion, Laws of diffusion, Diffusion across biological membranes, Oxygen consumption and cellular respiration, Osmosis, Osmotic pressure, Osmoregulation, Osmotic work.
Viscosity and Surface tension: Viscosity and biological importance, Surface tension, Factors influencing surface tension, biological importance.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
This course is intended to provide concepts of thermodynamics and its applications in understanding biological phenomena give fundamental ideas about protein folding and function, familiarize molecular level changes involved in biological processes.
COURSE OUTCOMES:
After completing the course, students shall be able to
CO1. Recall thermodynamics theory and its application to know biological processes.
CO2. Describe concepts of protein folding and function.
CO3. Describe molecular level changes involved in the process of diffusion, viscosity and surface tension.
CO4. Summarize biophysical phenomena and interpret investigative and experimental data.
REFERENCES:1. Biochemistry, Donald Voet and Judith G. Voet, John Wiley & Sons, 4th Ed., 2011.2. Biological Thermodynamics, Donald T. Haynie, Cambridge, 1st Ed., 2001.3. Introductory Biophysics: Perspectives on the Living State, J. R. Claycomb and J.Q.P. Tran, Jones & Bartlett, 1st Ed., 2011.4. Molecular and Cellular Biophysics, Meyer B. Jackson, Cambridge, 1st Ed., 2006.
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