Physics Models of Living Systems

This textbook is an excellent introduction to systems biology, which has developed rapidly in recent years. It discusses the processes in living organisms in an integrated way, enabling the reader to understand the fundamental principles and cause-effect relationships in biology and biochemistry. The authors have chosen an original but at the same time clear way of presenting the topics, repeatedly drawing comparisons and models from the macroscopic world and making the reader aware of the unity of the laws of physics, chemistry and biology.

A challenging frontier in modern statistical physics concerns systems with a small number of degrees of freedom, far from the thermodynamic limit. Beyond the general interest in the foundation of statistical mechanics, the relevance of this subject is due to the recent increase of resolution in the observation and manipulation of biological and man-made objects at micro- and nano-scales.

The application of methodological approaches and mathematical formalisms proper to Physics and Engineering to investigate and describe biological processes and design biological structures has led to the development of many disciplines in the context of computational biology and biotechnology. The best known applicative domain is tissue engineering and its branches. Recent domains of interest are in the field of biophysics, e.g.: multiscale mechanics of biological membranes and films and filaments; multiscale mechanics of adhesion; biomolecular motors and force generation.