About the Book
Physical Models of Living Systems is a textbook intended for intermediate-level undergraduates in any science or engineering major. The only prerequisite for this course is first-year physics. Supplementary sections make the book also suitable as the basis of a graduate-level course.
Dozens of exercises are included at all levels of complexity, many involving computer work.
This low-cost edition expands the first one with four new chapters. I have also taken the opportunity to add many clarifications, update figures and references, and to add dozens of new exercises.
The e-book is available from Amazon for $9.99. Note that this fixed-format book works best on a big screen (free Kindle app for a laptop or desktop computer). The paperback book is available for suggested retail $49.99. This site conveniently looks up who is offering it and compares prices. For individuals, may I suggest ordering through a local bookshop in your community using its ISBN number: 978-1-7375402-4-3. University bookstores and libraries can get it from Ingram. Bookstores outside the US can open a free ipage account and then order through that ipage account.
The Prologue is freely available here. "To the Instructor" is freely available here.
Approach
With its integrated approach, Physical Models can be used as the basis for interdisciplinary courses in Physics, Biophysics, Bioengineering, or other Engineering departments. Throughout, the goal is for students to gain the fluency they need to derive every result for themselves. To that end, the text includes exercises at all levels of complexity, including many that guide students through computer-based solutions.
Readers will acquire several research skills that are often not addressed in traditional courses:
- Basic modeling skills, including dimensional analysis, identification of variables, and ODE formulation.
- Probabilistic modeling skills, including stochastic simulation.
- Data analysis methods, including maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods.
- Computer programming using a general-purpose platform like MATLAB or Python, with short codes written from scratch.
- Dynamical systems, particularly feedback control, with phase portrait methods.
All of these basic skills, which are relevant to nearly any field of science or engineering, are presented in the context of case studies from living systems, including:
- Virus dynamics
- Bacterial genetics and evolution of drug resistance
- Statistical inference
- Superresolution microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy
- Stochastic simulation, for example of gene expression
- Synthetic biology
- Epidemic modeling
- Naturally evolved cellular control circuits, including homeostasis, genetic switches, and the mitotic clock.
- Excitable media.
Intended Audience
Who takes this class?
At my institution, the students are undergraduates who have taken one year of university physics. No background in computer programming, and no Biology or Chemistry prerequisite courses are assumed. However, each chapter has a ”Track 2” appendix with more advanced material; with these sections and some assigned primary research articles, the book can also serve a graduate–level course.
Although the book is not about medicine per se, many students who take the course at Penn are premedical, in part because the course addresses many of the competencies that form the basis of the MCAT (see the MCAT guide).
The book has almost no overlap with my other books From Photon to Neuron and Biological Physics. Photon to Neuron focused on light in biology, including optical instruments as well as animal vision. Biological Physics focused on statistical physics, fluid flow, and neural impulses.
Instructor Resources
Please refer to the Instructor Resources Page.
Student Resources
Student resources, including videos, are available on the Student Resources Page.