"Physical Biology of the Cell" is an innovative text that explores how the basic tools and insights of physics and chemistry are able to illuminate the study of molecular and cellular biology. Drawing upon key examples and seminal experiments from cell biology, the book demonstrates how fundamental, quantitative models can help refine our understanding of existing biological data and also be used to make predictions. The book attempts to bridge traditional models in cell biology, particularly the use of cartoons, with the quantitative approach of traditional physics, in order to introduce the reader to both the possibilities and boundaries of the emerging field of physical biology. While teaching physical model building in cell biology through a practical, case-study approach, the text explores how and why quantitative modeling may ultimately contribute to a more profound, intuitive understanding of cell biology.

About the Author

Rob Phillips is in the Department of Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology. He received a PhD in physics from Washington University in St. Louis. Jane Kondev is in the Department of Physics and the Graduate Program in Quantitative Biology at Brandeis University. He attended the Mathematical High School in Belgrade, Serbia, received his Physics BS degree from the University of Belgrade, and his PhD from Cornell University. Julie Theriot is in the Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She received concurrent BS degrees in Physics and Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of California at San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Part I The Facts of Life 1. Why: Biology By the Numbers 2. What and Where: Construction Plans for Cells and Organisms 3. When: Stopwatches at Many Scales 4. Who: "Bless the Little Beasties" Part II Life at Rest 5. Mechanical and Chemical Equilibrium in the Living Cell 6. Entropy Rules! 7. Two-State Systems: From Ion Channels to Cooperative Binding 8. Random Walks and the Structure of Macromolecules 9. Electrostatics for Salty Solutions 10. Beam Theory: Architecture for Cells and Skeletons 11. Biological Membranes: Life in Two Dimensions Part III Life in Motion 12. The Mathematics of Water 13. A Statistical View of Biological Dynamics 14. Life in Crowded and Disordered Environments 15. Rate Equations and Dynamics in the Cell 16. Dynamics of Molecular Motors 17. Biological Electricity and the Hodgkin-Huxley Model Part IV The Meaning of Life 18. Sequences, Specificity and Evolution 19. Network Organization in Space and Time 20. Whither Physical Biology

Reviews

"![The] authors of Physical Biology of the Cell have produced one of the first multi-purpose textbooks that is readily accessible to both physicists and biologists!. When read from cover to cover, the book is both very instructive and highly entertaining with the authors using humour to deliver strong take-home messages in each chapter!.Physical Biology of the Cell provides instructors with excellent material to create a graduate level course in biology or physics. The book is also very timely as it presents the most recent views in cell biology. As physicists, we strongly agreed with the message of the authors, but will this be the case for our biologist colleagues? We will know for sure if blackboards in biology departments, like the sand on the book cover, are soon covered in equations!" Nature Cell Biology, August 2009 a "!a monumental undertaking by three outstanding experts in the field!the book is a rich collection of special topics in biophysics!" Quarterly Review of Biology, September 2009 Physical Biology of the Cell is beautifully crafted: self-contained and modular, it provided tutorials on fundamentals and has material to hold the interest of a more sophisticated reader. It is fast-paced, proceeding within each chapter from freshman basics to graduate level sophistication. The book requires minimal prerequisites: a curious mind and undergraduate calculus will go a long way. It can be used as an undergraduate or early graduate biophysics course in a physics or engineering department. In the context of a molecular cell biology course, it could complement Molecular Biology of the Cell (or its equivalent), serving as a vehicle to introduce biology students to a quantitative way of thinking about biology. To truly master the physics presented in the book, one should do the problems provided with each chapter. These problems are well thought out and are a major teaching resource. (The instructor can also obtain a set of solutions). Because of these features, Physical Biology of the Cell offers a great deal of flexibility as a teaching tool. Cell, November 2009