INSTRUCTORS: Rajiv Singh , Dave Cone

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
In order for biological organisms to function, the different ingredients in all the complex chemical reactions that sustain life need to come close together. How does that happen? Are the reactants moved into position by special transport objects ("molecular motors") or does nature rely on the reactants just finding each other randomly? In this cluster we will discuss the answer to that question, and, in particular, solve the problems of "diffusion" and "random walks" which are important not only in biology but in all sorts of natural processes. We'll learn how to address these topics both with "pencil and paper" calculations but also, when such calculations get too hard, with simulation programs. There are some technical things we need to learn along the way: the linux operating system of the computers we will be using and how to write programs in C and python. We won't assume students know too much about these things, so we'll do a lot of simple, but interesting warm-up programs before tackling our biophysics projects.