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BME 595J Molecular, Cellular Biomechanics

Course Overview
This 3-credit BME graduate course is aimed at understanding the mechanical designs of biomolecules and cells with emphasis on structure dynamics of biopolymers, filament networks, and membranes, biofluid dynamics, and viscoelastic dynamics.

Prerequisite
Students should be able to solve ordinary differential equations and to use some software programming tools (e.g., Matlab, C, Visual Basic, etc.). Prior knowledge of stress/strain analyses, fluid dynamics, and cell biology is highly recommended. Consultation with the instructor is encouraged.

Course Description
The topics include biopolymers, bionetworks, biomembranes, cellular design, filament dynamics, mechanical designs of a cell, biofluid dynamics, and viscoelastic mechanics. Some of the questions asked in the class are: (i) how does a cell maintain or change its shape? (ii) how do cells move? (iii) what are the stability limits of the cell's component? The general strategy of the course is to investigate the mechanical properties of individual structural elements such as double-stranded DNA, phospholipids membranes, extracellular matrix networks, etc., and to assemble these components into simple cells. Biomolecules, i.e., cellular components, are characterized using potential energy, entropy, etc., and the biomechanical features such as elasticity of polymers and membranes, fluid-induced shear, and viscoelasticity of tissues are derived.

Required Textbooks
Boal, D.H.: Mechanics of the Cell. Cambridge University Press, 2002 (ISBN 0 521 79681).

Recommended Textbooks
Fung, Y.C.: Biomechanics: Mechanical Properties of Living Tissues. Springer Verlag, 1993.