Biophysics and radiochemistry

Benjámin Gyarmati

The goal of the subject to provide a general overview on two application-oriented field of physical chemistry, radiochemistry and biophysics. The correlations and overlap of different disciplines (chemistry, biology, physics) will be demonstrated. An overall review is provided about the origin of the particle and electromagnetic radiations of nuclear origin and their main features. Particular emphasize is given to their mechanism of interaction with matter. A wide range of examples is discussed about the application of the discussed phenomena i) in advanced analytical methods in materials science, ii) as novel alteration routes of materials, iii) in biology. In the biophysics part, the most important laws of physics, physical chemistry and colloid chemistry will be discussed in relation with their possible application in living systems. An important part of the lectures will be the discussion of self-assembly in biological systems, including the structure-property relationships in membranes followed by the introduction of transport processes across membranes, particularly those of ions as the basis of impulse conduction in our body. The interaction of biological macromolecules will be discussed in detail in terms of experimental methods (ITC, FRET, etc.) and related set-ups will be also shown including modern imaging techniques.