Required readings are posted on the schedule page. Here, you can find the course texts and other items of interest for reading.
Lecture notes
You can download the course lecture notes. The document will grow as the term progresses, and not all lectures will be included in the typed lecture notes.
Course text books
- Physical Biology of the Cell, 2nd Ed., by Phillips, Kondev, Theriot, and Garcia, Garland Science, 2012. This is the main text for the course and most readings come from this excellent book, one of my personal favorites of all time. We will refer to this as PBoC2 throughout the course.
- Cell Biology by the Numbers, by Milo and Phillips, Garland Science, 2015. This inventive book will help train your mind to think about cell biology quantitatively. It is available for free online. We will refer to this as CBBTN throughout the course.
Auxilliary Books
These books may serve as useful references for you as you explore physical cell biology further.
- Bruce Alberts, et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell, 7th Ed., W. W. Norton and Company, 2022. This is a great reference for learning about molecular biology. It is not a bad idea to have this sitting next to PBoC2 while you are reading.
- Howard Berg, Random Walks in Biology, Princeton University Press, 1993. This little gem gives clear exposition of the physics behind the random walkers that scurry throughout cells.
- Bill Bialek, Biophysics: Searching for Principles, Princeton University Press, 2012. This book uses case studies to look for general physical principles behind biological phenomena. It makes for thought-provoking reading.
- David Boal, Mechanics of the Cell, 2nd Ed., Cambridge University Press, 2012. I'm particularly fond of the clear treatment of membrane mechanics in this book, a topic that is often difficult for students.
- Jonathon Howard, Mechanics of Motor Proteins and the Cytoskeleton, Sinauer, 2001. This is a treasure trove of information about the filaments and motors that give structure and function to eukaryotic cells.
- Phil Nelson, Biological Physics, W. H. Freeman, 2007. This book gives a nice tour through thermodynamics and mechanics of cells.
- Phil Nelson, Physical Models of Living Systems, 2nd Ed., Chiliagon Science, 2022. This book gets you thinking about cellular processes from a probabilistic point of view with an emphasis on how to think about quantitative data.
- Helmut Schiessel, Biophysics for Beginners: A Journey through the Cell Nucleus, 2nd Ed., Jenny Stanford Publishing, 2022. This book provides a clear introduction to such important physical concepts of phase transition, polymer physics, master equations, Fokker-Planck equations, electrostatics, and more, all applied to dynamics and packaging of DNA and other nuclear components.
- Rob Phillips, The Molecular Switch: Signaling and Allostery, Princeton University Press, 202o. This book goes into great depth about signaling at a distance with detail on the Monod-Wyman-Changeux model, as well as generalizations and extensions thereof.
Rob's YouTube videos
During remote learning times, Rob Phillips made a series of videos about topics covered in this course. They are great! I encourage you to watch them.