A career in biophysics

A puzzle in DNA biophysics.

In this issue, Lee et al. report the experimental temperature-dependence of the unzipping force for two natural DNA sequences. For both sequences, the curves show an anomaly at temperatures around 40 degrees C. In this brief contribution, we stress that the anomaly is not easily explained within the established theoretical models for the biophysics of DNA. As this puzzle questions our basic und...

Biophysics.

Biophysics of a Trespasser

Why were Hodgkin and Huxley so disappointed with their work? Through a brilliant train of thought that considered the linearity of the current-voltage curve and the relative amplitudes of ionic and gating currents (Hodgkin and Huxley, 1952), they concluded that the Na 1 current which drives the action potential passes through a channel—defined as a pore that passes ions at high rates compared t...

Lectures in Theoretical Biophysics

its variables can still be interpreted in terms of physiological variables, since they have been derived from the physiological variables of the Hodgkin–Huxley model. The other way in which Fitzhugh derived these equations was by introducing one additional parameter in the original van der Pol oscillator equations which modifies them so that they have the qualitative features which Bonhoeffer h...

AFM: a versatile tool in biophysics

Here we review the applications of atomic force microscopy to the study of samples of biological origin. Emphasis is given to provide the reader with information on the broad range of different biophysical applications that, to date, such a technique can deal with. After recalling briefly the operating principles of an atomic force microscope, the broad field of bio-imaging applications is face...