Physical Biochemistry: Structures and Dynamics
Spring 2014
Part I: Absorption and Fluorescence Spectroscopies:
- 1. Introduction to quantum mechanics and molecular orbitals: UV-vis absorption spectroscopy
- 2. Optical activity and CD spectroscopy
- 3. Fluorescence spectroscopy and FRET
Part II: The Stokes radius and fluorescence anisotropy
- 4. Hydrodynamic methods and molecular diffusion
- 5. Fluorescence anisotropy
- 6. The Fourier transform; FTIR spectroscopy
Part III Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- 7. Biological NMR
- 8. Biological EPR
Part IV: Radiation scattering, imaging and diffraction
- 9. Radius of gyration- Light scattering, small angle X-ray scattering
- 10. X-ray diffraction
- 11. Electron microscopy and image reconstruction
The course can be taken by any student who has introductory calculus and biochemistry. It is not necessary for students to have taken BIOC 440b "Physical Biochemistry: Thermodynamics and Kinetics" though it is recommended. MCB 446 covers a broad range of spectroscopic and other methods used to study biological macromolecules.