Summer Camp in Physics – Educational Program

Introduction to Modern Biophysics
Lecture

Physical sciences and a progress in the technology delivered numerous sophisticated techniques which push forward research in biology and medicine. In this series of lectures we will present an overview of the current field of biophysics. First, main biological objects and processes will be described, together with the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology. Structures of nucleic acids and proteins will be introduced, in the context of X-ray, NMR and cryoEM methods of the biostructural studies. Then, single molecules techniques will be reviewed with special emphasis on the atomic force microscopy technique and protein nanomechanics. Due to increasing computer power molecular modeling of dynamics is particularly popular these days, thus backgrounds of protein molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics methodology will be discussed in a greater detail. The lectures will be illustrated by examples of our own research on bioinspired materials and medically relevant proteins.

Physics Today
Lecture

During this lecture group leaders from Faculty of Physics Astronomy and Informatics will explain in what types of scientific researcher they are involved. Students will be introduced in such scientific fields like: optics of hybrid nanostructures, optical coherence tomography (OCT), quantum information with single photons, optically stimulated luminescence measurements.

Engineering Thermodynamics; A Quick and Dirty Approach
Practical course

The course will be based on the engineering software (CATT, computer aided thermodynamic tables). The goal will be to connect the basic theoretical thermodynamic concepts to performance of the real systems and to popularize engineering thermodynamics using a quick and dirty approach.
During the course students will learn to use the CATT program to obtain the values characterizing all of the material properties of the working fluids that are used by the heat processing systems. The students will design and evaluate the closed and open thermodynamic systems such as tanks, heat engines, nozzles, diffusers, refrigerators, turbines and compressors.
It is expected that during the course students will gain some knowledge about the basic concepts of thermodynamics, such as the state postulate, first and second laws, reversible and irreversible processes and the basic thermodynamic characteristics and parameters such as energy, heat, work, entropy, enthalpy and so on.

Experimental NanoPhysics
Laboratory

Course will be divided into two parts. One part will be devoted to Silver nanostructures synthesis. Next part to vizualization of this nanoparticles and on the nanostructures using Atomic Force Microscope (AFM).
Part One: Silver nanostructures synthesis.
The main aim of the experiment is to synthesize the Silver Island Films (SIF) on the microscope cover glass. The absorption spectra of SIFs will be collected using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The plasmon resonance peak position of metallic nanostructures and nanoparticles depends on the material (silver, gold, platinum, etc.) size and shape of nanoparticles. It will be characterize on the base of collected absorption spectra of synthesized SIFs.
Part two: Atomic Force Microscopy.
The AFM Workshop is an introduction for AFM technique and its capabilities. An introductory presentation of the AFM instrument construction and operation will be made. Participants will receive a hands-on experience in sample preparation and imaging procedures as well as data analysis.

Python in Physics
Practical course

At the first part of the course, students will get familiar with the basic types (numeric types, sequential types, dictionaries) and syntax constructions (functions, loops, conditional clauses) of Python. Next, the basics of scipy package (numpy arrays, ode solver, pyplot) will be introduced. The course will end with solving a system of differential equations and animating its solution.

Nanooptics: Modeling optical response of nanoparticles
Practical course

Plasmonic nanoparticles sustain a remarkable ability to confine and enhance electromagnetic fields in subwavelength spatial domains.
The goal of the course is to explore the physical origins of this effect. Students will familiarize with numerical tools that allow to simulate the optical response of plasmonic nanoparticles and exploit these tools to characterize particles of different materials, geometries and environments.

LabView environment as tool for data acquisition and processing
Practical course

LabView as graphics programming language is one of the most popular tool used in order to collect and analyze the measured data. It can be used in variety of application, including testing, debugging and to configure the hardware. Students during the course will have the opportunity to learn the basics of the programming in LabView. Once this stage will be completed, the students will get the real analog-digital converter and precision balance to connect them to the computers. The final stage of the course will be creating software enabling communication with the used devices, reading, analyzing, visualization and storing obtained data on the computer.

Molecular Modeling of Biomolecules
Practical course

During course participants will learn how to run classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of proteins. At the beginning short introduction to MD simulations and proteins will presented. Next using free software for academics, MD simulation will be calculated based on protein structure from Protein Data Bank. At the end of curse students will learn how to analyze MD simulations in visualization software.