What is Biophysics? Scope and Career opportunities

What is Biophysics?
Biology studies life in its variety and complexity. It describes how organisms go about getting food, communicating, sensing the environment, and reproducing. On the other hand, Physics looks for mathematical laws of nature and makes detailed predictions about the forces that drive idealised systems.

Biophysics is a molecular science. It seeks to explain biological function in terms of the molecular structures and properties of specific molecules.

It applies the principles of Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics to study the living things and organisms. It discovers how atoms are arranged in DNA and proteins.

What is the scope?
Biophysics is a growing enterprise world-wide, driven primarily by the widespread realization of the major contributions made to biological science by a combination of truly state-of-the-art physical measurements with modern molecular biology.

Biophysics discovers how to modify microorganisms for biofuel (replacing gasoline and diesel fuel) and bioelectricity (replacing petroleum products and coal for producing electricity). Biophysicists identifies how proteins work.

What are the career options?
It is very important for the society for its physical and biological problems. Biophysicists are also involved in applying their knowledge of fundamental physics to develop and implement new techniques for analyzing organisms. Some of the most noteworthy and useful techniques are EM (Electron Microscopy), CAT (Computer-Aided Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and X-ray crystallography.

Job opportunities exist in both the private and public sectors, especially in the realms of agricultural science, biotechnology, computational biology, environmental science, forensic science, medical science, and radiation science.

One can start a career in universities, industries, medical centres, research institutes, private and public sectors.

What are the job roles?

Biophysicists
Researcher
Scientist
Applied biophysicist
Clinical biophysicist
Medical biophysicist
Forensic biophysicist
Nutritional biophysicist

Who can study this course?

Candidates who have passed 10+2 with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics as compulsory subjects, can pursue Biophysics in bachelor's degree level.
Candidates who have passed bachelor's degree in Biophysics are eligible to pursue Biophysics in master and doctoral level at Indian and foreign universities.

Top Colleges / Universities in India offering Biophysics: