This book is an introduction to the mechanical properties, the force generating capacity, and the sensitivity to mechanical cues of the biological system. To understand how these qualities govern many essential biological processes, we also discuss how to measure them. However, before delving into the details and the techniques, we will first learn the operational definitions in mechanics, such as force, stress, elasticity, viscosity and so on. This book will explore the mechanics at three different length scales – molecular, cellular, and tissue levels – sequentially, and discuss the measurement techniques to quantify the intrinsic mechanical properties, force generating capacity, mechanoresponsive processes in the biological systems, and rupture forces.

The mechanics of biological tissues is a multidisciplinary and rapidly expanding area of research. This book points to important directions combining mechanical sciences with the new developments in biology. It delivers articles on mechanics of tissues at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels.

Quantum physics provides the concepts and their mathematical formalization that lend themselves to describe important properties of biological networks topology, such as vulnerability to external stress and their dynamic response to changing physiological conditions. A theory of networks enhanced with mathematical concepts and tools of quantum physics opens a new area of biological physics, the one of systems biological physics.

Fields, Forces, and Flows in Biological Systems describes the fundamental driving forces for mass transport, electric current, and fluid flow as they apply to the biology and biophysics of molecules, cells, tissues, and organs. Basic mathematical and engineering tools are presented in the context of biology and physiology.The chapters are structured in a framework that moves across length scales from molecules to membranes to tissues. Examples throughout the text deal with applications involving specific biological tissues, cells, and macromolecules. In addition, a variety of applications focus on sensors, actuators, diagnostics, and microphysical measurement devices (e.g., bioMEMs/NEMs microfluidic devices) in which transport and electrokinetic interactions are critical.This textbook is written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in biological and biomedical engineering and will be a valuable resource for interdisciplinary researchers including biophysicists, physical chemists, materials scientists, and chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineers seeking a common language on the subject.

This book presents a novel molecular description for understanding the regulatory mechanisms behind the autonomy and self-organization in biological systems. Chapters focus on defining and explaining the regulatory molecular mechanisms behind different aspects of autonomy and self-organization in the sense of autonomous coding, data processing, structure (mass) formation and energy production in a biological system. Subsequent chapters discuss the cross-talk among mechanisms of energy, and mass and information, transformation in biological systems. Other chapters focus on applications regarding therapeutic approaches in regenerative medicine. Molecular Mechanisms of Autonomy in Biological Systems is an indispensable resource for scientists and researchers in regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, molecular biology, tissue engineering, developmental biology, biochemistry, biophysics, bioinformatics, as well as big data sciences, complexity and soft computing.

This book contains pedagogical introductions to a selection of the most exciting subjects in current biological physics: sorting DNA on a microchip: a first step towards miniature laboratories on a chip; modeling protein folding, structure, and motion; physics of organelles: mechanical characteristics of molecular motors; dynamics of microtubules; shapes of membranes, vesicles and cells; a physicist's view of brains and neurons; statistics of sensory signal processing; evolutionary biology of molecules; pattern forming bacterial colonies; model ecologies with Darwinian co-evolution. The book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in physics, biology and mathematical modeling who have no prior knowledge of its

This book serves as an introduction to the continuum mechanics and mathematical modeling of complex fluids in living systems. The form and function of living systems are intimately tied to the nature of surrounding fluid environments, which commonly exhibit nonlinear and history dependent responses to forces and displacements. With ever-increasing capabilities in the visualization and manipulation of biological systems, research on the fundamental phenomena, models, measurements, and analysis of complex fluids has taken a number of exciting directions. In this book, many of the world’s foremost experts explore key topics such as: Macro- and micro-rheological techniques for measuring the material properties of complex biofluids and the subtleties of data interpretation Experimental observations and rheology of complex biological materials, including mucus, cell membranes, the cytoskeleton, and blood The motility of microorganisms in complex fluids and the dynamics of active suspensions Challenges and solutions in the numerical simulation of biologically relevant complex fluid flows This volume will be accessible to advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in engineering, mathematics, biology, and the physical sciences, but will appeal to anyone interested in the intricate and beautiful nature of complex fluids in the context of living systems.