Sept. 19, 2003: A short (~1 page) proposal of your project is due, describing the general area you have chosen, and what particular aspects you will focus on. You should list at least some references (texts, journal literature, etc.) that you will be using.

October 17, 2003: Short report describing what progress you've made, and what sources you are using.

Late November/First week of December: Class presentations by each student.

December 5, 2003: Final report due.

Most students will probably do a literature-based research project, that is, they will find, read, and digest the literature pertinent to their project. The Tulane library and Internet resources are the best aids in such an effort.

In most cases the format will be roughly as follows:

- An introductory statement of the problem or field.

- A summary of theory and techniques behind the problem or field.

experimental principles involved. Your paper should not read like a popular science piece in the New York Times.

- A broad summary of results on the problem or field.

- Some detail on specific results by selected researchers.

- Conclusions, including a summary of the state-of-the art concerning the

problem, future directions, new applications, etc.

Those who wish to do a novel project - e.g. write a computer program for a specific task related to some biophysical/macromolecular problem - will naturally end up doing much less library work. Credit will not be given for reporting directly on results of on-going research for other courses or laboratory rotations. Doing a proper review of topics related to such on-going work, however, may be acceptable. You are encouraged to find and initiate your own project.

Each student will give a presentation at the end of the semester.

Magnetic fields associated with nerve propagation (use of SQUID magnetometers).

Select a medical tomographic technique such as 3-D NMR, x-rays, PET scans, etc.

The kinetics of polymerization reactions.

Application of a physical technique to macromolecular/biophysical problems;

light scattering and macromolecules,

neutron scattering, synchrotron studies, etc.

The protein folding problem

neural networks

Autocatalysis, prebiotic origins of life

Background and applications in bioenergetics

Information theory and evolution

Information theory and Maxwell's Demon

Solution of Poisson-Boltzmann equation in novel situations;

e.g. for membrane, micelle or liposome electrostatic potentials

Hydrodynamics of polymers; Navier-Stokes equation, inertial

approximation, results for different shapes and assumptions and

applications to polymer intrinsic viscosity and diffusion coefficients.

Monte Carlo and/or molecular dynamics simulations; principles and

applications to macromolecules.

Density functional theory applications in macromolecules.

Theory and application of x-ray diffraction and crystallography, with

specific examples to protein or other macromolecular structural determination.

Theory of phase changes and application to cooperativity, denaturation

processes, etc.

Conformational properties of electrically charged macromolecules;

persistence lengths, excluded volume, interactions.

Structure of complex liquids; density distributions, spatial autocorrelations, etc.

Thermodynamics of dissipative, self-organizing structures

Mathematical and physical survey of chaos and non-linearity

Report in detail on the current state of understanding in one of the

following areas:

- nerve transmission and synaptic mediation of impulses

- motility of micro-organisms; e.g. chemotactic, phototactic,

thermotropic, etc. behaviors

- visual reception; light capture, retinal isomerization, etc.

- current theories of memory mechanisms

- viral structure, self-organization and theories of their origin

- transmembrane potentials, channels, gates, and receptors

- theoretical or applied aspects of the genome project

- manipulations on single molecules

- DNA as a computer