biophysical

Biophysical is an adjective describing approaches, properties, or phenomena in biology that are explained or measured using physics. In common usage it refers to the application of physical principles to living systems, often within the broader field of biophysics. The term can describe experimental techniques, theoretical models, or the characterization of biomolecules, cells, tissues, and their interactions.

Biophysical research spans scales from molecules to organisms and includes areas such as structural biophysics, membrane biophysics, and biomechanics. It employs methods such as spectroscopy (absorption, fluorescence, circular dichroism), diffraction (X-ray, neutron), cryo-electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and many microscopy techniques (confocal, fluorescence, atomic force microscopy, optical tweezers). It also uses thermal, mechanical, and electrical measurements to study properties like diffusion, stiffness, conductivity, and electrochemical behavior. Computational approaches include molecular dynamics simulations, quantum calculations, and continuum models.

Applications of biophysical approaches include characterization of biomolecular structure and dynamics, drug discovery, medical imaging, biosensing, and understanding mechanotransduction. The terms biophysical and biophysics are related but not identical: biophysics denotes the scientific discipline; biophysical describes objects, methods, or results that incorporate physics in biology. The field is highly interdisciplinary, bridging physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering to explore how physical principles govern living systems.