Required readings are posted on the schedule page. Here, you can find the course texts and other items of interest for reading.
Course text books
- Physical Biology of the Cell, 2nd Ed., by Phillips, Kondev, Theriot, and Garcia, Garland Science, 2012. This is the main text for the course and most readings come from this excellent book, one of my personal favorites of all time. We will refer to this as PBoC2 throughout the course.
- Cell Biology by the Numbers, by Milo and Phillips, Garland Science, 2015. This inventive book will help train your mind to think about cell biology quantitatively. It is available for free online. We will refer to this as CBBTN throughout the course.
Auxilliary Books
These books may serve as useful references for you as you explore physical cell biology further.
- Bruce Alberts, et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell Analysis for the Physical Sciences, 6th Ed., Garland Science, 2014. This is a great reference for learning about molecular biology. It is not a bad idea to have this sitting next to PBoC2 while you are reading.
- Howard Berg, Random Walks in Biology, Princeton University Press, 1993. This little gem gives clear exposition of the physics behind the random walkers that scurry throughout cells.
- Bill Bialek, Biophysics: Searching for Principles, Princeton University Press, 2012. This book uses case studies to look for general physical principles behind biological phenomena. It makes for thought-provoking reading.
- David Boal, Mechanics of the Cell, 2nd Ed., Cambridge University Press, 2012. I'm particularly fond of the clear treatment of membrane mechanics in this book, a topic that is often difficult for students.
- Jonathon Howard, Mechanics of Motor Proteins and the Cytoskeleton, Sinauer, 2001. This is a treasure trove of information about the filaments and motors that give structure and function to eukaryotic cells.
- Phil Nelson, Biological Physics, W. H. Freeman, 2007. This book gives a nice tour through thermodynamics and mechanics of cells.
- Phil Nelson, Physical Models of Living Systems, Macmillan Education, 2015. This book gets you thinking about cellular processes from a probabilistic point of view with an emphasis on how to think about quantitative data.