Rom. J. Biophys. 2002
12(3-4):129-136
TEACHING BIOPHYSICS. SUGGESTIONS
FOR THE INTRODUCTORY LECTURE IN BIOPHYSICS
Al. POPESCU
Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest-Magurele, P.O Box MG 11, 76900 Romania, E-Mails: p.aurel@mailbox.ro, aurelpopescu@fpce1.fizica.unibuc.ro
Abstract.
Some suggestions are sketched concerning the positive impact the introductory
lecture on biophysics could have on the undergraduate students. The basic idea
is that, especially with this occasion, the teachers have the opportunity to
emphasize the role, importance and impact of biophysics on the approach of
living matter. The introductory lecture should be a very impressive and
challenging one, aiming to attract the students towards this fascinated field
of life sciences. However, these suggestions do not preclude the possibilities
offered by the other lectures to make short incursions into the past or present
life of biophysicists and to emphasize their remarkable scientific
achievements.
Key words:
definitions, education, formation, journals, national/international
congresses/societies.
INTRODUCTION
In
the near past, the Biophysical Journal has had as one of its aims, besides
promoting and stimulating fundamental and applied up-to-date biophysics
researches, that to encourage the teaching and education in biophysics.
Biophysical Journal has already published a series of very interesting but, in
the great majority, focused papers on teaching some particular problems of
biophysics [1, 2, 4–6, 8, 10, 13, 14] excepting a paper dedicated to strategies
for recruiting and retaining minorities in physics and biophysics [15]. On the
other hand, in the last years, this kind of papers were, unfortunately, absent.
The
purpose of this paper is to suggest a possible introductory lecture mainly
addressed to the undergraduate students or to those who are attending, for the
first time, a course of biophysics. The reason of approaching this topic is the
noticeable decrease of enthusiasm and interest of some capable young people to
be engaged on physics and life sciences careers and who prefer more profitable
positions offered by the job market.
The
first contact of the students with biophysics should be an unforgettable one,
thus greatly contributing to definitely capture them on the way of biophysical
research and/or higher education in the field of biophysics.
Teaching
biophysics is not only a matter of mind (i.e. a correct technical presentation
of the biophysics topics), but also a matter of attitude and responsibility.
Maybe
some points to be signaled here are also common to the other introductory
courses in life sciences but, having in mind the nature and future impact of
biophysics on understanding living matter structure and operation, these points
of view get specific aspects in the case of biophysics.
Teaching
biophysics means inducing to the students the feeling of wonder and surprise
for the order and beauty of the living matter organisation and operation and,
also, the feeling of their utility in the challenging biophysical research.
Indeed, the objective of biophysics is wonderful and tempting: the study and
understanding of physical aspects of living structures and processes occurring
inside them, by means of a powerful instrument: physics.
PRINCIPAL POINTS TO BE
APPROACHED
In
my opinion, the first lecture could be organised taking into account some of
the steps suggested below, each one being accompanied by adequate, attractive
and suggestive images and schemes.
OBJECTIVE AND PLACE OF
BIOPHYSICS AMONG SCIENCES
First
of all it is necessary to define the purpose and the objectives of biophysics
and make it clear what its place and connection both with fundamental and life
sciences are. Therefore, a picture illustrating the place and connection of
Biophysics with other sciences, like that presented below, could be very meaningful
for the students (Fig. 1).
Although
during the past and even in the last decades a lot of definitions of biophysics
were advanced [7, 9], maybe the more general one is that viewing biophysics as
the “science aiming to investigate the structure and operation of living
systems (and of their subsystems) with the aid of the concepts, theory and
methodology of both experimental and theoretical physics”. On the inside cover
of European Biophysics Journal, under the Aims and Scope it is currently stated:
“Biophysics is defined as the study of biological phenomena by using physical
methods and concepts”. Shortly speaking, applying physics to the study of
living matter means... doing biophysics.
Among
the other life sciences (e.g. biochemistry, biomathematics, bionics,
bioengineering etc.) biophysics has an important place, due to the huge power
of physical methods in approaching life processes which, in essence, have as
underground the physical phenomena occurring into biosystems.
Moreover,
biophysics implies a very large palette of knowledge in biology, biochemistry,
mathematics, condensed matter physics, electronics and computer science.
Therefore, “biophysics is not a discipline proper like genetics, biochemistry
and molecular biology, but is expected to promote interdisciplinary bridging”
[7].
Fig. 1. – The scheme of connections among biosciences, fundamcntal sciences,
and some of the applied sciences (modified after Popescu [12, 13]).
An
interdisciplinary approach of biological phenomena is more and more obvious, as
it was emphasized by the director of the National Institute of Health,
THE MAIN BRANCHES OF
BIOPHYSICS
One
could continue with a short and attractive presentation of the biophysics
evolution and of its branches, emphasizing that biophysics is already a mature
and universally accepted science.
One
could define and shortly describe the branches of biophysics, having in mind as
criteria, on the one hand, the level of living matter organization and, on the
other hand, the branches of physics from which biophysics is extracting its own
methodological substance and power.
Thus,
after the first criterion, the main branches of biophysics are [11, 12]:
a)
Quantum biophysics (at sub-molecular/molecular level), which quite
substantially overlaps quantum biochemistry, but its affiliation to biophysics
seems to be naturally justified;
b)
Molecular biophysics;
c)
Supra-molecular and cellular biophysics,
d)
Complex system biophysics (e.g. the biophysics of biological analysers).
Taking
into account the other criterion, namely, the branches of physics, one could
speak of:
a)
Biomechanics with the sub-domains as bioacoustics, biorheology, and
haemodynamics;
b)
Biothermodynamics (bioenergetics of respiration, energetics of muscle
contraction and membrane transport);
c)
Bioelectriciiy (nervous impulse propagations, global electrical activity of
different tissues and organs);
d)
Physiological optics;
e)
Photobiophysics (photosynthesis and bioluminescence);
f)
Radiation biophysics (the interaction of living matter with different ionising
and non-ionising radiations);
g)
Theoretical and computational biophysics.
One
could remind that in the scientific literature can already be found, plenty of
monographs, textbooks/ course books, and chapters of books having the titles of
the branches of biophysics, e.g. biothermodynamics [3]. On the same line of
evidence, one could mention the issue of the journal Proteins: Structure, Function and Genetics (Supplement 4, 2000)
having the subtitle Biothermodynamics in
the year 2000.
I
shall mention that Biophysical Journal
includes among its main permanent sections the following ones: Photobiophysics,
Cell biophysics, Theoretical and computational biophysics and Biophysical
techniques.
In
this manner the students could create themselves a pertinent and global image
on the whole domain encompassed by biophysics.
It
is important to stress that, due to the vastness and variety of problems
approached by biophysics, one person cannot afford to succeed in approaching
but a limited number of biophysics topics. Therefore, it is necessary for each
of the students to realize his/her somehow restricted future place in the large
but coherent activities of biophysics researches, having however the
consciousness that his/her efforts will certainly contribute to the development
and completion of the whole domain.
EDUCATION AND FORMATION IN
BIOPHYSICS
There
is a diversity of ways of higher education and formation of young people in the
field of Biophysics, varying from country to country and sometimes, in a given
country, even from one university to another.
As
much the formation/education of the biophysicists is concerned, usually one can
start either from biology or from physics, at different levels of study:
undergraduate, graduate or doctoral ones. Therefore, the formation of the new
generations of biophysicists is the shared privilege of physics and biology.
In
my opinion, based on an experience of more than 25 years of teaching
biophysics, firstly at the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest (1975 – 1981) then
at the Faculty of Physics in Bucharest (1981 – present) and, especially on the
tradition of our department involved in formation of biophysicists in Romania,
it is more productive and time saving to start biophysics education with
physics and mathematics and to continue with biology, genetics and other
specialised life sciences, rather than to begin with biology and then to
continue with physics. It is easier to graft biological concepts and
information on a physics and mathematical background, which is more difficult
to create and consolidate later.
As
for education in biophysics, one can notice that biophysics is an object of
study in all medical, biological, pharmacological, and veterinary faculties,
aiming to familiarize the students with some basic knowledge of biophysics
useful in their future specific activities.
SOME HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF
BIOPHYSICS
The
presentation of some historical aspects could raise students’ interest for the
biophysics and especially it could induce into them the conviction that they
could attain the performances of their predecessors themselves.
One
could inculcate into the students’ mind the determination to put in action
their real potentiality in view of a future successful scientific
accomplishment.
Examples
of a few crucial moments of biophysical discoveries, some of them awarded with
Nobel Prize, will positively impress and stimulate the students. One could
remind, for instance, the challenging ideas of Schrodinger (exposed in his
famous book What is Life?), the real
contributions to genetics of the physicist Delbruck (who attracted many other
physicists to biology), the Hodgkin-Huxley model of action potential
propagation, the determination of myoglobin 3D structure by Kendrew and Perutz,
the secondary structure determination of nucleic acids by Watson and Crick,
etc. as outstanding and incentive scientific achievements.
Of
course, there are a lot of other beautiful and instructive examples which could
be presented too.
BIOPHYSICS ALL AROUND THE
WORLD
It
is important to call attention of the students on the existence all around the
world of specialised research institutes, university centres or departments,
where topics of biophysics are approached, starting from (sub)molecular
level and reaching the complex biological systems.
Also,
it would be valuable to present and shortly describe the organization of
biophysics, at the local and global scale, that is the existence of national,
regional (e.g. European Biophysical Societies’ Association, EBSA) and of other
international biophysics associations. It is important to say that, in
principle, the national organizations are affiliated to the International Union
for Pure an Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) which is organizing every three years an
International Biophysics Congress (e.g. the first one was held in 1961 at
Stockholm, the last one in 2002 at Buenos Aires, while the future one is to be
held in 2005 at Montpellier, France).
As
a rule, the national and regional associations of biophysics affiliated to
IUPAB are organizing periodic scientific meetings, too. They are publishing
periodical journals in biophysics, some of them currently accessible online
(e.g. Biophysical Journal, European Biophysics Journal), favouring
the scientific exchanges and dissemination of the newest discoveries and
findings, thus stimulating the future researches in biophysics and in connected
fields. The conclusion is that nowadays, there is a worldwide biophysics
network in which each biophysicist is a significant piece, playing an important
role as a potential contributor and equally as a fervent disseminator of
biophysical approaches of living matter.
UTILITY OF BIOPHYSICISTS. ARE THEY NEEDED?
Finally,
it is necessary to emphasize the numerous opportunities offered by the
biophysics training programmes to those engaged both in fundamental and applied
biophysical research.
On
the job market in the life sciences, the biophysicists seem to be very much
appreciated and preferentially employed, due to their multidisciplinary
education, offering them a great flexibility and a large interface to other
domains.
These
are the reasons why many universities have developed important long term
programmes of education, formation and research in biophysics, starting with
the undergraduate level and continuing with the doctoral and, finally, with
research postdoctoral positions.
One
could only say that biophysics is currently contributing to decipher the space
structure of macromolecules involved both in normal and pathological functions
(e.g. the structure of prion involved in the controversial mad cow disease).
The 3D structure of a macromolecule is just as important as its chemical
composition, and one of the greatest challenges in biology is to understand how
one dimensional molecule folds in a functional space structure. If the physical
process of protein folding is completely understood, it will be possible to
create an algorithm to predict their 3D structure, starting from their amino
acid sequence. This would allow to design more
specific drugs in view of a more efficient and faster therapy.
The
contribution of biophysicists and of biophysical techniques in the further exploring
of Human Proteome, in the near future will be also a notable successful
objective.
Three
arenas of biology in which the skills of physicists and of their close cousins
(among which, of course, the biophysicists) can be most productively used, are
[16]: a) the methods for examining the physical and chemical properties of
single macromolecules and single complexes of large molecules; b) the
interpretation of complex data sets and the process of development and
differentiation (why, for example, some cells develop into muscle tissue, while
others become brain cells); c) the developing of a “radical physical
explanation” (in the sense of Delbruck’s goal) for cell function.
CONCLUSION
The
way towards biophysics research is long and hard but very tempting and
promising. By its challenge, purpose and methodology, biophysics will certainly
be a sine qua non component of the
life sciences of this new century. Its potential achievements, that will very
soon become concrete applications in the real life, are the warranty of a
wonderful and full reward of the biophysicists endeavour.
One
can emphasize that biophysics, in a coherent synergy with the other life
sciences and with advent of the fundamental sciences, will assure a successful
approach and a much more profound understanding of the rules that govern the
miraculous process of life on Earth.
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