Outline of biophysics

Outline of biophysics
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to biophysics:
Biophysics – interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physics to study biological systems.
Nature of biophysics
Biophysics is
An academic discipline – branch of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined (in part), and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong.
A scientific field (a branch of science) – widely recognized category of specialized expertise within science, and typically embodies its own terminology and nomenclature. Such a field will usually be represented by one or more scientific journals, where peer-reviewed research is published.
A natural science – one that seeks to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world using empirical and scientific methods.
A biological science – concerned with the study of living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.
A branch of physics – concerned with the study of matter and its motion through space and time, along with related concepts such as energy and force.
An interdisciplinary field – field of science that overlaps with other sciences
Scope of biophysics research
Biomolecular scale
Biomolecule
Biomolecular structure
Organismal scale
Animal locomotion
Biomechanics
Biomineralization
Motility
Environmental scale
Biophysical environment
Biophysics research overlaps with
Agrophysics
Biochemistry
Biophysical chemistry
Bioengineering
Biogeophysics
Nanotechnology
Systems biology
Branches of biophysics
Astrobiophysics – field of intersection between astrophysics and biophysics concerned with the influence of the astrophysical phenomena upon life on planet Earth or some other planet in general.
Medical biophysics – interdisciplinary field that applies methods and concepts from physics to medicine or healthcare, ranging from radiology to microscopy and nanomedicine. See also, medical physics.
Clinical biophysics – studies the process and effects of non-ionising physical energies utilised for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
Membrane biophysics – study of biological membranes using physical, computational, mathematical, and biophysical methods.
Molecular biophysics – interdisciplinary field that applies methods and concepts from physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and biology to understand biomolecular systems and explain biological function in terms of molecular structure, structural organization, and dynamic behaviour at various levels of complexity, from single molecules to supramolecular]structures, viruses and small living systems.
Biophysical techniques
Biophysical techniques – methods used for gaining information about biological systems on an atomic or molecular level. They overlap with methods from many other branches of science.
Biophotonics – combination of biology and photonics, with photonics being the science and technology of generation, manipulation, and detection of photons, quantum units of light. Biophotonics can also be described as the "development and application of optical techniques, particularly imaging, to the study of biological molecules, cells and tissue". One of the main benefits of using optical techniques which make up biophotonics is that they preserve the integrity of the biological cells being examined.
Calcium imaging – various optical techniques for recording the location and concentration of calcium. Typically this is done in cell and tissue samples using either genetically encoded or chemically derived fluorescent calcium indicating dyes.
Calorimetry –
Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) – measures the heat effects caused by interactions.
Chromatography – various techniques from this field are used for the purification and analysis of biological molecules
Circular Dichroism – method to measure chirality of a sample using circularly polarized light. This technique is commonly used to determine protein structure.
Computational chemistry – use of numerical methods to probe the structure and dynamical equilibrium in biological systems.
Cryobiology –
Dual Polarisation Interferometry – analytical technique used to measure the real-time conformation and activity of a wide range of biomolecules and their interactions.
Electrophysiology – studies electrical properties of cell membranes and provide functional data, often related to systematic changes in structure.
Patch clamping – provides temporal and electrical information of a cell, or a portion of membrane. Typically this provides data on electrogenic processes, such ion channel or transporter activity.
Electron microscopy – used to gain high-resolution images of subcellular structures and proteins.
Fluorescence spectroscopy – for detecting structural rearrangements, as well as interactions of biomolecules. See also, Fluorescence.
Force spectroscopy – probes the mechanical properties of individual molecules or macromolecular assemblies using small flexible cantilevers, focused laser light, or magnetic fields.
Gel electrophoresis – determines the mass, the charge and the interactions of biological molecules
Imaging – scientific imaging of biological materials, usually by some form of microscopy, or sometimes indirectly such as in x-ray crystallography or by computer imaging; at a wide range of magnifications to see macromolecules, cells, tissues, or organisms
Mass spectrometry – technique that gives the molecular mass with great accuracy.
Microscale Thermophoresis (MST) – method to measure binding affinities, enzymatic activities, changes in molecule conformation and changes in size, charge or hydration entropy.
Microscopy – used in many ways, for example, to enable the use of laser instruments for scanning and transmission.
Atomic force microscopy –
Neuroimaging –
Neutron spin echo spectroscopy –
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy – method for measuring the local environment of atomic nuclei within a sample. Can be used to derive both structural and kinetic information on proteins and small molecules.
NMR spectroscopy – provides information about the exact structure of biological molecules, as well as on dynamics
Optical tweezers and Magnetic tweezers – allow for the manipulation of single molecules, providing information about DNA and its interaction with proteins and molecular motors, such as Helicase and RNA polymerase.
Rheology and Microrheology
Single molecule spectroscopy – is a technique that is sensitive enough to detect single molecules and often incorporates fluorescence detection.
Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) – technique that gives a rough low resolution molecular structure.
Spectrophotometry – measurement of the transmission of light through different solutions or substances at different wavelengths of light.
Colorimetry –
Spectroscopy and Circular dichroism – method for detecting chiral groups in molecules, especially to determine the secondary structure of proteins
Ultracentrifugation – gives information on the shape and mass of molecules
X-ray crystallography – method to determine the exact structure of molecules with atomic resolution
Applications
Biophysical profile
Biophysical structures and phenomena
In molecular biophysics
Molecular biophysics
Biological membranes
Cell membranes
Bioenergetics
Channels, receptors and transporters
Enzyme kinetics
Molecular motors
Phospholipids
Proteins
Biofilms
Supramolecular assemblies
Nucleic acids
In cellular biophysics
Cellular biology
Cell division
Cell migration
Cell signalling
Dynamical systems
Electrophysiology
Signaling
Biochemical systems theory
Metabolic control analysis
Biophysics organizations
American Crystallographic Association
Biophysical Society
Biophysical Society of Canada
European Biophysical Societies' Association
Indian Biophysical Society
Institute of Biophysics (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics
International Union of Crystallography
National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Estonia
Biophysics publications
Annual Review of Biophysics
Bibliography of biophysics
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Biophysical Journal
Biophysical Reviews and Letters
European Biophysics Journal
Indian Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Journal of Biochemical and Biophysical Methods
Soft Matter
Persons influential in biophysics
List of biophysicists
See also
Physiomics
Bioacoustics
Biological membranes
Bionics
Computational biology
Evolutionary algorithms
Evolutionary computing
Evolutionary theory
Gravitational biology
Ion channels
Mathematical biology
Morphogenesis
Muscle and contractility
Negentropy
Neural encoding
Neurophysics
Radiobiology
Sensory systems
Structural biology
Systems neuroscience
Tensegrity
Theoretical biology
References
External links
Biophysical Society
European Biophysical Societies' Association
Biophysics
Biophysics