Statistical Physics for Biological Matter: Introduction

This article is taken from the Preface and the Introduction of the book, “Statistical Physics for Biological Matter” that I am writing. To be published by Springer Publishing Co, it is a graduate-level textbook that covers statistical mechanics and related soft-condensed matter and stochastic physics. One of the most important directions in science nowadays is a physical approach to biology. The tremendous challenges that come widely from emerging fields such as biotechnology, biomaterials, and biomedicine demand quantitative, physical explanations. An understanding of biological systems and phenomena also provides a new paradigm by which current physics can advance. Of primary interest are biological systems at the mesoscopic or the cellular level, which covers lengths from about nanometers to micrometers. Such biological systems comprise cells and their constituent biopolymers, membranes and other subcellular structures. This bio-soft condensed matter is subject to thermal fluctuations and non-equilibrium noises, and owing to its structural flexibility and connectivity, manifests a variety of emergent, cooperative behaviors, whose explanations call for novel developments and applications of statistical physics. In this article, I characterize the physical features of biological matter and discuss the relevance and the utility of statistical, soft matter, and non-equilibrium physics for biological conformations and processes on a mesoscale.