Selvin
Physics598Bio
Course Overview
Physics 598Bio
Single Molecule Biophysics Seminar
Monday 9 – 11 am
Room 322
Professor Paul Selvin
selvin@uiuc.edu; 244-3371
Office: Rm. 365 Loomis Lab
Physics 598Bio Overview
This course is meant for those graduate students interested in research in single molecule
biophysics. The course is meant for those with a grasp of biophysics, but also meant for
those new to the field.
We will go over the research of experimental members of the physics dept./biophysics,
plus others. In particular, we will cover the research of Paul Selvin (molecular motors,
ion channels), Taekjip Ha (protein-DNA interactions and enzyme dynamics), Ido Golding
(Single cell Gene Expression) and Yann Chemla (High Resolution Optical Trapping), and
Bob Clegg (Fluorescence Lifetime Methods and Medical Physics). In addition, we will
cover others doing cutting-edge single molecule biophysics (Xiaowei Zhang, Sunney Xie,
and Howard Berg of Harvard; Eric Betzig of Janeila Farms; Kasu Kinosita and possibly
Toshio Yanagida of Japan; Steve Block and Jim Spudich of Stanford…). We will also
keep current with regular readings and presentations of articles from the current literature
(presented by you!). Students should be prepared to give (two) short lectures on recent
research articles. The course will meet for one 2 hour section/week, Monday 9-11 am.
Goals of course:
1. To learn enough biology to have a solid foundation.
2. To learn enough single molecule biophysics – mostly experimental—to
understand modern experiments.
3. To be able to read a research article without too much difficulty.
4. To be able to give a research talk about an article.
Depending on your need we will cover some Biology. You need to understand biology
to do effective biophysics! The goal of biophysics research is to help understand biology,
not to do some new physics on biological objects.
Textbook
As needed, we will cover: "Physical Biology of the Cell" by Rob Phillips/Jane Kondev/
Julie Theriot, published by Garland Press, approximately 900 pages.
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Selvin
Physics598Bio
Course Overview
This book has not been published. Nevertheless I have a PDF which you are free to have.
You can get part of it or all of it printed at Kinko’s. Also, I encourage you to look at other
sources, both old and new textbooks and the web.
Grading
This is a graduate class, so grades are not important. For those who do the required
amount of work, you will get an A or B. The required amount of work includes:
1. Paper Summary: Doing weekly 1 page (single-spaced, or 2 page double-spaced)
write-up of articles.
In general, this will be assigned when the article is assigned, and due one week
later, at the beginning of class, before we discuss it.
2. Doing two (possibly, although unlikely, one) 8-10 minute talk on a research topic
of your choosing. This will be your “mid-term” and “final.”
3. Participate in class! This is a graduate seminar class. As such, you should be
doing most of the talking, figuring out what you don’t understand, and teaching
each other. Whether you are shy or outgoing, I expect each of you to talk. If you
don’t understand something, then speak up and say “I don’t understand….What
are you talking about?” Someone from the class, who does understand (maybe
only somewhat), should try to answer your question. If you have difficulty with
English, we are here to help. Ask as best you can!
First and most important, I expect you NOT TO PLAGARIZE!!!! You should read
the article, put it away, and then write your paper by yourself! You will undoubtedly get
confused as you write it—which is good. It shows you what you don’t know!! You then
go take out the paper, read the section you were confused about, perhaps go and read
whatever background material you need, and then PUT THE MATERIAL AWAY, and
go back and try writing. You may have to do this several times. This really makes sure
that you understand the material. Also, using your own word improves your writing.
Using someone else’s words, besides cheating, may sound better, but will never get you
to the point where you can explain it yourself.
Paper Summary
You will answer the following general questions:
Biologically, what was the main point. What did they discover? What did they need to
use single molecules, assuming they did. What new physics, new techniques, if any, did
they discover/use?
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