Protein Biophysics

Proteins are all over most introductions to biology and with good reason. Proteins are a, if not the, major result of the genetic code. Much of modern chemistry looks to proteins throughout biology as the “master chemists” to better understand the millions of chemical reactions they direct inside the bodies of all organisms, from humans to bacteria. But what are proteins and what do they really look like? How do enzymes speed up chemistry? What do the proteins in photosynthesis and the electron transport chain actually do to capture energy? What role do they play in the emerging antibiotic resistant bacteria which are increasing mortality in hospitals and how do they influence viral infection? Is there anything proteins can teach us about physics? In this course we will discuss these questions and more based on our own research and multiple biophysics courses we have taken from world leaders in these topics at Stanford. Biophysics is the application of physics to understand biology, and we aim to focus on its study of proteins for simplicity. We will begin by focusing on what proteins are, basic types of chemistry they perform, and the physical principles they use to control chemistry. From there we will review a few of the most common tools in biophysics and will introduce students to a variety of current topics of the field. We will focus on the topic our students are most interested in, the focus of their research project. The following (as well as those listed above) are examples. ****

NOTE: AP Chemistry (or the equivalent since as IB HL Chemistry) is a prerequisite for this course. If your school does not offer AP or IB Chemistry, you will need to demonstrate extensive knowledge of chemistry through some other avenue to verify that you are familiar with the concepts covered in the program.