Quantitative Cell Mechanics

3 Credits.

Application of equilibrium and nonequilibrium concepts in statistical mechanics to biology is presented in some detail. Topics include many-body dynamics and equilibrium ensembles, thermodynamics and phase transitions, free energy functionals, computer simulations of biological systems, nonequilibrium model such as the Langevin equation and the Fokker-Planck equation, kinetic models of biochemical networks, Markov models of stochastic systems and pattern formation in nonequilibrium systems. Emphasis will be on quantitative understanding of biological problems.