What Does Biophysics Study?
The biological questions with which biophysics is concerned are as diverse as the organisms of biology:
How do linear polymers of only 20 different amino acids fold into proteins with precise three-dimensional structures and specific biological functions?
How does a single enormously long DNA molecule untwist and exactly replicate itself during cell division or direct the production of proteins?
How are sound waves, or photons, or odors, or flavors, or touches, detected by a sense organ and converted into electrical impulses that provide the brain with information about the external world?
How does a muscle cell convert the chemical energy of ATP hydrolysis into mechanical force and movement?
How does the cell membrane, a lipid barrier impermeable to water-soluble molecules, selectively transport such molecules through its non-polar interior?
Biophysics seeks to answer these questions using an eclectic approach. The specific molecules involved in a biological process are identified using the techniques of chemical and biochemical analysis. Their molecular structures and interactions are determined using the spectroscopic techniques of physics and chemistry. And the relationship between biological function and molecular structure is investigated using highly precise and exquisitely sensitive physical instruments and techniques that are able to monitor the properties or the movement of specific groups of molecules, or in exciting new developments, are able to view and manipulate single molecules and to measure their behavior.
Biophysics explains biological functions in terms of molecular mechanisms: precise physical descriptions of how individual molecules work together like tiny machines to produce specific biological functions. Some of these biophysical mechanisms, many involving detailed molecular models, are described in detail under Resources in Biophysics.
What to Study to Become a Biophysicist
Biophysics asks how macromolecules and their complexes do the work of biology. Its focus is mechanism, and it aims to predict the results of biological processes. As such, it is a quantitative science that depends heavily on mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and draws on computational methods as well. If your interest is in understanding how biology works on a molecular level, you should begin early in your college studies to prepare yourself for a career in biophysics. Of course, there are many ways to apply quantitative methods to biology, and the courses you choose will depend on where in the broad biophysics spectrum your interests fall. However, there are some generalities one can make. You should certainly take differential and integral calculus early in your studies. Courses in differential equations and systems analysis are recommended for those with an interest in quantitative approaches to complex biological systems. Depending on your undergraduate major, you might take more physics, more chemistry, or more mathematics and computational science. However, a basic course in calculus-based physics and courses in chemistry through organic and biochemistry are recommended. Non-physics majors should not shirk at least a one-semester course (two would be better) in physical chemistry. Students headed toward experimental biophysics should take courses in molecular and cellular biology. Students headed towards computational biophysics or structural bioinformatics obviously should take more physics and computer science, but a basic course in computational methods (basic program design, spread sheet usage) is recommended for all.
Having said all this, it is important to stress that those who realize late in their college career that they were meant to search out biological mechanism need not give up on pursuing biophysics. Biophysics is inherently an interdisciplinary subject and thrives the fresh ideas and perspectives of people trained in many different disciplines. It is easiest to make the journey from quantitatively oriented traditional disciplines into biophysics, but biochemists and biologists can also make this journey if they are committed to it. The best thing to do is to contact the Director or Graduate Studies Director of the biophysics program in which you are interested to examine how to proceed.
Educational Opportunities
Database of Graduate Programs in Biophysics
Numerous colleges and universities throughout the USA and the world support graduate study in biophysics. Some offer specific graduate degrees in biophysics; others offer a specialization in biophysics as part of a degree in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, or other field. Our interactive database allows you to search for graduate study opportunities in biophysics by geographical location, by degree offered, and by specific area of research expertise.
Undergraduate Student Symposium
This program, sponsored by the Education Committee, introduces college and university undergraduates to research and career opportunities in biophysics through a seminar in emerging topics in biophysics and the Emily M. Gray award lecture. A special graduate institution fair follows the symposia.
2010 Biophysical Society Summer Course in Biophysics
The Biophysical Society offers a summer course to encourage minority students to consider careers in biophysics, and is targeted to junior and senior undergraduate students in the areas of quantitative sciences (e.g. physics, computer science, chemistry, biology, and biochemistry).