BI 529 Biomolecules: Molecular Driving Forces (Spring: 3)
Prerequisite:
MT101 (Calc 2). Previous course work in biology and/or chemistry is recommended.
This is a course on statistical thermodynamics and its applications in biology
and chemistry. Following the excellent book, Molecular Driving Forces of
Dill and Bromberg, the course includes a self-contained treatment of mathematics
beyond single variable calculus and elementary probability theory. What
is the free energy of an ensemble of RNA molecules? Why is protein folding
cooperative? What is the critical point in a phase transition? How does
Langmuir adsorption explain the saturation effect one sees in gene expression
microarrays? These are the types of questions that will be addressed in
this course.
Peter Clote
Last Updated: 01-FEB-12