Biophysics
Studying living systems from unique perspectives.
As one of the first biophysics programs in the nation, we have a long tradition of excellence in research and teaching, and of developing leaders in the scientific community. We train our students to become thinkers who will have the quantitative skills and technical abilities to address any biological problem at hand.
As a student, you’ll use the ideas, instrumentation, and computational models of physics to understand living things. From the molecules within cells to the creation of medical technologies, biophysics has an enormous impact on our daily life.
CLASSES YOU MIGHT TAKE
The Nature of Nature
We’ll examine the nature of nature by asking questions about phenomena we experience in our daily lives. We’ll read brief sources from popular science and engage in weekly conversations. For the students with backgrounds in science, these conversations are an opportunity to discover the elusive continuity and connectivity between elements in nature that siloed science education all too often obfuscates.
Protein Engineering and Biochemistry Lab
Examine the relationship between genes and proteins in the context of disease and evolution in this research project lab. You’ll learn basic protein science and standard biochemical techniques and methods in protein engineering. You’ll also perform experiments in site-directed mutagenesis, protein purification, and structural, functional and physical characterization of proteins.
Modeling the Living Cell
This course provides an introduction to physical and mathematical models used to represent biophysical systems and phenomena. You’ll learn algorithms for implementing models computationally and perform basic implementations. We’ll discuss the types of approximations made to develop useful models of complex biological systems, and the comparison of model predictions with experiment.
Faculty Spotlight
Join the Club
Hopkins students are eager to pursue their interests outside the classroom. With 450+ student-led organizations, here are just a few you could join:
- Agara Bio
- Applying Science with Kids
- Beta Beta Beta (National Biological Honor Society)
- The Global Health Leaders Conference at Johns Hopkins University (Glohea)
- Out in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (oSTEM)
- PharmHop
- SciComm
- Society for Biomaterials
- The Triple Helix at Johns Hopkins University
