Daniel L. Stein

Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Biophysics.
Ph.D., Princeton University, 1979
dls@physics.arizona.edu

D.L. Stein: Research on Biophysics
for Non-Physicists
(Continued)

So there are actually two random processes occurring at the same time: diffusion of the oxygen molecule (i.e., a random walk, where in the simplest realization each step is in a random direction, uncorrelated with the previous step); and random fluctuations of the larger host molecule itself. This is a very interesting and not so easy problem!


This is one example of many similar problems, ranging from the behavior of ion channel proteins to ionic conduction in polymeric electrolytes. Understanding of the mathematical problem inspired by the biological problem can lead to diverse applications, in both biological and non-biological contexts.