Statistical Physics for Biological Matter

Wokyung Sung is Professor Emeritus at Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH), where he taught and researched in the fields of statistical physics and biological physics for about 30 years. He obtained his Bachelor of Science at Seoul National University and PhD at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has been working mostly on a variety of biological matter and processes at the mesoscopic level, using statistical physics of soft matter and stochastic phenomena. In particular, he pioneered the theory of polymer translocation through membranes, engendering a whole new field in biological or polymer physics. He is a member of the Journal of Biological Physics editorial board and an Editor-in-Chief in the period 2007–2009. For his seminal contributions to science and in particular to statistical/biological physics, Prof. Sung was awarded a Medal of Science and Technology bestowed by the Korean Government in 2010. He also served as a director of Centerfor Theoretical Physics at POSTECH, and the Distinguished Research Fellow at Center for Self-Assembly and Complexity, Institute of Basic Science, in Pohang. Professor Sung was a visiting a scientist and professor at Oxford University, the Jülich Research Center, University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University.

1. Introduction : Biological Systems, and Physical ApproachesBring Physics to Life, Bring Life to Physics. Part A: Equilibrium Structures and Properties.- 2. Basic Concepts of Relevant Thermodynamics.- 3. Basic Methods of Equilibrium Statistical Physics.- 4. Statistical Mechanics of Fluids and Solutions.- 5. The Coarse-grained Descriptions for Biological Complexes. 6.- Water and Weak Electrostatic Interactions.- 7. Law of Chemical Forces: Transitions, Reactions and Self-assembly.- 8. Lattice and Ising Models.- 9. Response, Fluctuations, Correlations, and Scatterings.- 10. Mesoscopic model for Polymers: Flexible Chains.- 11. Mesoscopic model for Polymers: Semi-flexible Chain Model and Polyelectrolytes.- 12. Membranes and Elastic Surfaces.- 13.Brownian Motions.- 14. Stochastic Processes, Markov Chains and Master Equations.- 15. Theory of Markov Processes & The Fokker-Planck Equations.- 16. The Mean-First Passage Times and Barrier Crossing Rates.17.- Dynamic Linear Responses and Time Correlation Functions.- 18. Noise-induced Resonances: Stochastic Resonance and Resonant Activation, and Stochastic Ratchet. 19.- Transport Phenomena and Fluid Dynamics.- 20. Dynamics of Polymers and Membranes in Fluids.- 21. Epilogue.