TRATAT DE BIOFIZICĂ GENERALĂ

Biophysics is the interdisciplinary science that investigates the structural and functional aspects of living systems and their interactions with environmental factors, using the concepts, principles and methodology of experimental and theoretical physics. Thus, applying principles from molecular physics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, electricity, optics, atomic and nuclear physics or quantum mechanics, Biophysics provides a deep understanding of biophysical phenomena that occur at all levels of organization of living matter.
Over time, Biophysics has driven fundamental discoveries in various fields such as molecular biology, biochemistry, medicine, neuroscience and, in general, the life sciences. It is enough to mention the determination of the spatial structure of proteins and DNA by the method of X-ray diffraction on crystals or by NMR, the development of the biophysical model of action potential propagation, the deciphering of the mechanism of muscle contraction, in order to ascertain the impact and beneficial contribution of Biophysics to the life sciences. Currently, biophysicists contribute to the elucidation of the most subtle molecular processes that take place in cells, in order to design and synthesize personalized drugs for the treatment of malignant tumors and neurodegenerative diseases.
This Biophysics Treatise will be useful and easily accessible to students of the Faculties of Physics, but also of other faculties (Biology, Chemistry, Human Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology, Agronomy), providing an overview and a solid basis regarding Biophysics. But the present treatise can be attractive, interesting and useful for any reader curious to know the ways in which complex biological processes are subject to universal physical laws.