On November 18, we were pleased to have Professor Li Wenfei, of the Department of Physics, deliver an online lecture on “Computational Physics in Life Sciences.” The lecture was divided into two parts, an overview of biophysics (the intersection of physics and life science) and computational biophysics (computer simulation in life science).

Professor Li began by introducing us to biophysics which he said has not been well defined,and  different disciplines have different understanding of it. To put it simply, biophysics is an inter-discipline that studies issues in life sciences with methods of physics. Biophysics has a wide range of research objects, including traditional organisms such as plants, animals and microorganisms and including systems of different sizes from the molecular level to the ecosystem level.

Professor Li then talked about the role of physics in biological research, including using physical instruments, drawing on physical concepts, and applying physical theoretical methods. The breakthroughs in microscopic technology have greatly promoted the development of biology, with the results of many Nobel Prizes.

The Nobel prizes in 2014, 2017 and 2018 all had to do with telescopes. The Fibonacci retracement is very common in life systems. For example, the arrangement of sunflower petals is consistent with the Fibonacci retracement. A better understanding of the phenomenon of life science can be obtained as well by simulating the Fibonacci spiral of life science in the process of physical simulation.

At the end of the first part of his lecture, Professor Li also introduced the latest advances in biophysics in conjunction with his lab research such as photo controllable hydrogels with mechanical properties.

At the beginning of the second part, the professor first introduced the central law of molecular biology and the core issue of concern: how proteins, DNA, and RNA work together in accomplishing the biological functions.

He talked about the dynamic characteristics of life systems and introduced computer simulations of biomolecules. Here, he focused on some methods used in computer simulations such as the coarse-grained model.

In order to simplify the calculation, amino acids with a large number of atoms could be treated as particles in the simulation. Computer simulations have been widely employed in life science and could be used to study protein folding, cell adhesion and enzyme catalysis.

Finally, Professor Li gave us his earnest hope: he hoped that as biophysics is promising and developing rapidly, more students who are interested in research will be engaged in biophysics research.

During the question-and-answer session, Fan Kangqiao asked a question: Is there any example of applying concepts or methods from biology to physics research? Professor Li gave a brilliant answer: although most of the examples are from physics to biology, the disciplines interact and promote each other, and there are many applications of biology to physics in recent years.

This answer deepened the students’ understanding of this module.

In conclusion, the lecture broadened the students’ horizons and deepened their impression of biophysics and computer simulation.