Among the three 4-credit courses:

•  Physics of living systems (PLS-I) / From Soft Matter to Biological Physics
  • Organisation: Lectures (20h), Conferences (4h)
  • Lecturers: Pierre-François Lenne, Pierre Recouvreux Félix Rico
  • Evaluation: written
  • The objective of this course is to introduce the physical principles underlying the organization and dynamics of living systems. Biological organisms display a complex organization, with substructures organized over all length scales, from the molecule, to the cell, to the tissues, to the whole organisms. Their dynamics is rich: their cells can multiply and differentiate into different types supporting distinct functions. They can respond to variations of external conditions, remodel and reshape parts of their body during development or accidentai damage, and reproduce themselves endlessly. Despite their unique capabilities, living systems do not evade the principles of physics. This course will show how living systems can be described, studied and understood thanks to the concepts and technologies from different demains of physics. After an introduction on the building blacks of living systems, the course will caver the following tapies:
    • Energy and Information
      1. - Synthesis of biomolecules, energy production and storage
      2. Entropie forces
      3. Chemical forces and self-assembly
      4. Polarity
    • Molecular motors in the cell
      1. Mechanochemical machines
      2. Active polymers
      3. Cell motion
    • Mechanics of cells and tissues
      1. Cell shape
      2. Cell division
      3. Tissues as viscoelastic active materials
    • Shapes of the living systems
      1. Emergence of shapes
      2. Body plan (reaction-diffusion, pattern formation)

• Systèmes Dynamiques / Dynamical Systems
• Milieux Continus / Continuous Media

Among the three 6-credit courses:

• Statistical Physics II
• Adv. Quantum Stat. Phys. (or statistical quantum field theory and nanophysics)
• Dynamical Systems & Non-Linear Physics

Among the three 4-credit courses:

• Complex Systems & Machine learning

• Soft Matter
  • Lecturers: Kheya Sengupta, Felix Rico
  • This course intends to treat “Soft Matter” as a subfield of Condensed Matter physics, underlining the unifying principles. Soft Matter is defined as matter in which the interactions between the constituent particles, which may be molecules, macromolecules or larger entities, is weak and as a consequence, one defining property of soft matter is the ease with which small external forces can deform them. This means that they not only distort and flow easily, but also that thermal fluctuations play an important, often dominant, role in defining their properties. The structural diversity of soft materials means that they encompass a multitude of symmetry groups, some of which are not found elsewhere, and often exhibit interesting defect dominated phases. The prevalence of entropy dominated states and transitions, the relevance to every-day materials ranging from coffee and whipped cream to soap and paint, and the connection to active and living matter makes soft matter endlessly fascinating.

1. Revisit concepts of free energy, entropy and temperature.
2. Introduction to forces, energies and length/time-scales in soft matter; Notions of entropic forces, thermal fluctuations; Examples of Soft Matter: Liquid Crystals (Nematic and Smectic phases), Colloids, Polymers, Surfactants, Membranes.
3. Revisit phase space and ensembles (classical statistical mechanics); correlations and ordered systems; Introduction to order parameter.
4. Symmetry and scattering; Disordered and ordered phases (examples from Liquid Crystals and ordered phases of surfactants and polymers)
5. Elasticity and deformation in anisotropic media (focus on Liquid Crystalline phases)
6. Defects and defect phases (with examples from Soft Matter)
7. Phase transitions and notion of Landau Theory (with examples from Soft Matter)
8. Fluctuation and dissipation
9. Rheology of complex fluids (focus on polymers)
10. Basics of hydrodynamics: low Reynold’s numbers
11. From soft to living matter

• Emergent behavior in living systems (PLS-II)
  • Lecturers: Matthias Merkel, Jean-François Rupprecht & Hervé Rouault
  • The objective of this course is to reinforce the understanding of how physical principles underpin the organization and dynamics of living systems. Biological systems display complex organization, at ail length scales, from the molecule, to the cell, to the tissues, to the whole organisms and even populations. The organization often arises out of complex and rich dynamics and is adapted to respond robustly to external stimuli and threats as well as internai defects, failure to do so leads to dysfunction. For example, the process of cell multiplication and differentiation into distinct tissues is a cooperative process that depends on both biochemical and physical eues - an imbalance in either may lead to cancer. This course will emphasize how concepts and technologies from different domains of physics is helping to push the boundaries of knowledge about living systems.

• • The course will be organized as an interactive learning process, with active researchers in the field as mentors. Leading biophysics research groups in Marseille (based mainly in the Luminy campus) will offer learning modules on topics of current interest like development, neuroscience and immunology. The goal will be to demonstrate how the topics learned during master's courses and before integrate into open research questions.
    During this course you will attend to presentations of ail Biology labs involved in the project and participate to practical work in a research team, if possible with a biology student