Description: (Formerly numbered Biomedical Engineering C206.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, eight hours. Enforced requisites: Chemistry 20B, Life Sciences 2, 3, 23L, Mathematics 33B, Physics 1C. Coverage in depth of physical processes associated with biological membranes and channel proteins, with specific emphasis on electrophysiology. Basic physical principles governing electrostatics in dielectric media, building on complexity to ultimately address action potentials and signal propagation in nerves. Topics include Nernst/Planck and Poisson/Boltzmann equations, Nernst potential, Donnan equilibrium, GHK equations, energy barriers in ion channels, cable equation, action potentials, Hodgkin/Huxley equations, impulse propagation, axon geometry and conduction, dendritic integration. Concurrently scheduled with course C106. Letter grading.

Units: 4.0