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Biological Physics
and Medical Physics cover a broad range of disciplines that
apply
quantitative physical methods to the study of fundamental biological
problems
as well as the more practical concerns of human physiology, disease,
and
medical diagnosis and treatment.
One of the challenges
facing modern biology is the need for a more physical understanding of
biological function, particularly the interactions of proteins. The
success
of the genome projects drives home the fact that although we will
shortly
know the amino acid sequence of all physiological proteins, we
understand
very little of their function. Modern physics tools are ideally suited
to probing protein function at the level of single molecules or small
complexes.
By combining a variety of measurement techniques and studies of both
proteins
and membranes, we will come to an understanding of the cell as a
complex
highly ordered machine. This advance is of fundamental scientific
importance
and will be directly applicable to medicine.
In the area of human
physiology and medicine a few of the topics that exploit physics and
physical
methods are the interactions of light, ionizing radiation, microwaves,
heat, etc. with living tissues and the diagnostic and therapeutic
techniques
such as X-ray, gamma ray and NMR computer tomography, diagnostic
ultrasound
and radiation therapy that dominate modern medicine. It is evident from
this partial list that a strong national program in medical physics is
essential for the US to be in the forefront in basic medical science
and
in medical diagnostics and therapeutics. Delivery of high-quality
medical care requires a large pool of highly-trained individuals who
will
function in hospitals and other health care delivery settings. Medical
diagnostic and therapeutic equipment is a thriving industry in which
the
US plays a major role, but in which there is now strong competition
from
abroad. There is a consistently strong demand for well-trained
physicists
with special expertise in this area.
Biological/Medical
research opportunities are available both within the Department and as
joint projects with faculty in the Beckman Laser Institute, the
Departments
of Physiology and Biophysics, Molecular Biology,
Biochemistry,
Developmental and Cell Biology, Radiological Sciences, and others.
Units
and programs at UCI possessing substantial intellectual resources and
infrastructure
in Biological/Medical Physics include the:
-Health Sciences Research Imaging Center/College of Medicine
-Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Center
-Optical Biology Facility and Beckman Laser Institute
-Macromolecular X-ray Diffraction Facility and Computational Center
-Chemistry Molecular Modeling Facility
-Structural Molecular Biology Program
-UCI Protein Engineering Program
