New Trends in the Physics and Mechanics of Biological Systems

These lecture notes present the latest trends and challenges in the modelling of biological systems from a mechanics perspective. They cover both fluid and solid mechanics, the modelling of growth in biological systems, and present the application of physical methods for the modelling of systems in cellular biology, physiology, and morphogenesis.

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In July 2009, many experts in the mathematical modelling of biological sciences gathered in Les Houches for a 4-week summer school on the mechanics and physics of biological systems. The goal of the school was to present to students and researchers an integrated view of new trends and challenges in physical and mathematical aspects of biomechanics. While the scope for such a topic is very wide, we focused on problems where solid and fluid mechanics play a central role. The school covered both the general mathematical theory of mechanical biology in the context of continuum mechanics but also the specific modelling of particular systems in the biology of the cell, plants, microbes, and in physiology. These lecture notes are organised (as was the school) around five different main topics all connected by the common theme of continuum modelling for biological systems: Bio-fluidics, Bio-gels, Bio-mechanics, Bio-membranes, and Morphogenesis. These notes are not meant as a journal review of the topic but rather as a gentle tutorial introduction to the readers who want to understand the basic problematic in modelling biological systems from a mechanics perspective.