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 10 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:

1. Introduction to thermodynamics. Biological membranes (passive and active transport across a cell membrane, resting membrane potential, action potential).
2. 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).
3. Heart electrical activity (genesis of ECG, heart axis).
4. Respiratory biophysics (structure of the lungs, mechanics of breathing, respiratory cycle, gas flow in airways, partial pressures of gases). Spirometry (pulmonary volumes and capacities). Respiration under usual and unusual conditions.
5. Imaging techniques in medicine (CT, PET, SPECT, MRI).

Topics of practical classes:

1. Sound waves. Physical bases of hearing. Audiometry screening and interpretation.
2. Physical basics of ultrasonography
3. Doppler ultrasonography. Blood flow characteristics in arteries
4. Biophysics of vision (image formation in the human eye, eye accommodation, vision defects and their correction, eyepiece magnification).
5. 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 seminars and practical classes,
• 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),
• submit 5 experimental reports and collect at least 15 points (one experimental report would be assessed for maximum 5 points).
• pass the final test which covers all material from lectures, seminars and practical classes.

Core Literature:

1. Daviodovits P.: Physics in Biology and Medicine (6-th ed.), Academic Press, 2024.
2. Herman I.P.: Physics of the Human Body, Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 2016.
3. Ronto G., Tarjan I. (Eds.): An Introduction to Biophysics with Medical Orientation, (4-th ed.), Akadémiai Publishing Company, Budapest, 2003.

Supplementary Literature:

1. R.Glaser, Biophysics, Springer-Verlag 2012.
2. Hobbie R.K., Roth B.J.: Intermediate Physics for Medicine & Biology (5-th ed.), Springer International Publishing AG, 2015.
3. Malmivuo J., Plonsey R.: Bioelectromagnetism, - Principles and Applications of Bioelectric and Biomagnetic Fields. New York, Oxford University Press, 1995.
4. 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.

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