WL. English Division
Biophysics
Course coordinator: Piotr Jeleń, Ph.D., e-mail: piotr.jelen@wum.edu.pl
Number of teaching hours:
The course covers 34 hours of instruction, divided as below:
lectures 4 hours
seminars 15 hours
practical classes 15 hours
Course objectives:
Physics of human body.
Impact of physical factors on human body.
Physical bases of chosen imaging and therapeutic techniques in medicine.
Topics of lectures:
1. Biophysics in contemporary medicine.
2. The basics of ionising radiation and radiation protection.
Topics of seminars:
- Introduction to thermodynamics. Biological membranes (passive and active transport across a cell membrane, resting membrane potential, action potential, Gibbs-Donnann equilibrium).
- Biophysics of circulation (basic physical laws of fluid flow, types of fluids in fluid mechanics, laminar, turbulent, pulsatile flow, blood circulation system, physical properties of blood and blood vessels).
- Heart electrical activity (genesis of ECG, heart axis).
Respiratory biophysics (structure of the lungs, physics of the alveoli, mechanics of breathing, respiratory cycle, gas flow in airways, pulmonary volumes and capacities, partial pressures of gases). Spirometry. Respiration under usual and unusual conditions.
Imaging techniques in medicine (CT, PET, SPECT, MRI).
Topics of practical classes:
- Sound waves. Physical bases of hearing. Audiometry screening and interpretation.
- Physical basics of ultrasonography.
- Doppler ultrasonography. Blood flow characteristics in arteries.
Biophysics of vision (imaging and detection by the eye, vision impairments).
X rays – measurements and interpretation. Health effects of ionizing radiation absorption. Principles of radiological protection.
Assessment of student performance:
To receive a credit for a course in biophysics students are requested to:
- attend all 5 practical classes, submit reports accepted by the teachers, and score a total of at least 15 points,
- attend all seminars,
- pass all of the quizzes on the e–learning platform (after each lecture and seminar students should complete a short quiz; to pass the quiz, student has to answer correctly at least 60 % of the questions),
- pass the final test which covers all material from lectures, seminars and practical classes.
Core Literature:
- Daviodovits P.: Physics in Biology and Medicine (3rd ed.), Harcourt Academic Press,An Imprint of Elsevier, 2008
- Herman I.P.: Physics of the Human Body, Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 2007
- Ronto G., Tarjan I. (Eds.): An Introduction to Biophysics with Medical Orientation, (3rd ed.), Akadémiai Publishing Company, Budapest, 1999
Supplementary Literature:
- R.Glaser, Biophysics, Springer-Verlag 2005
- Hobbie R.K., Roth B.J.: Intermediate Physics for Medicine & Biology (4-th ed.), Springer, 2007
- Malmivuo J., Plonsey R.: Bioelectromagnetism, - Principles and Applications of Bioelectric and Biomagnetic Fields. New York, Oxford University Press, 1995
- Samuel J. Ling, Truman State University, Jeff Sanny, Loyola Marymount University William Moebs formerly of Loyola Marymount University (senior contributing authors): University Physics (Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3) Access for free at openstax.org.
Division into groups is availabe on our e-learnig platform