Sharks + Lasers: Engaging Students in Biophysics Research Through Physics Courses

Biophysics has seen a surge of groundbreaking discoveries and research advancements over the past few decades. While biophysics is a growing field, many physics courses do not connect principles to applications within the biological sciences. This disconnect persists when instructors lack biophysics backgrounds, often delaying students' discovery of biophysics until late in their undergraduate or graduate studies. Over the past 4 years, I have collaborated with biochemistry, molecular biology, and physiology researchers to design advanced physics courses that connect biological applications to fundamental physics concepts. To further engage students in South Florida, I have collaborated with marine biologists to focus my applications around local shark species and their ecology. A key component of these courses has centered on engaging students in original research involving laser applications to answer biological questions. I have been working with a team of students in and out of my classroom on adapting previous studies using optical tweezers to study shark muscle function. I have done this successfully at the undergraduate and now high school levels. This has produced several students who have pursued fields in or related to biophysics. This talk will explore the process of integrating biology into physics education, offering insights from a physicist's perspective with a Ph.D. in astroparticle physics and discuss the broader potential of this model for engaging students in biophysics.