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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

GW creates new biophysics major

The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences unveiled its newest science degree program this year – biophysics.

Five students have opted for the biophysics major so far, which studies science at the molecular level and works to understand the structure of individual molecules and their interactions.

John Balbach, professor of physics and biophysics, said medical research facilities such as the National Institutes of Health and the non-profit Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase are likely to fund the new program. The biology department used a several million-dollar grant from HHMI to fund biomedical research training programs held in recent summers. Now, the department is applying for a $2 million grant to fund a two-semester freshman course starting in fall 2006.

“It’s something special because we’re looking at problems both physical and biology in a way that we hadn’t before,” Balbach said. “When we looked at the type of research being done, the major made sense.”

There is no clear-cut picture of what a biophysicist studies, mainly because the subject is an applied science, which means that any biological process can be studied by applying the laws of physics or chemistry, like the twisting mechanism of DNA.

Biophysics is for the type of student who, Balbach said, has a “passion for biology or medicine who got excited in their physics courses. This type of major is typically seen as extremely difficult, but a chunk of the courses are introductory and fairly easy.”

The development of the protein microscope, or small-molecule microscope, is one application of the biophysics field. Other investigations that link biology and physics extend outside of the lab. Xeng Peng, a physics professor, applies his skills and knowledge as a physicist to help propose a theory on how plants became more complex over a specific period of time.

“Physicists are good at making mathematical models of biological systems. Neither biologists or physicists would understand the world alone,” said Rob Donaldson, professor of biology and director of the HHMI Undergraduate Student Education Program.

A college student, however, is not expected to master the subject he graduates in, said Balbach, who added that the new major is a solid stepping stone in an undergraduate’s future career.

Balbach said, “The biophysics degree gives you enough to point you down the road … what we’ve developed is a program where students are constantly reminded of the connections between math, physics and biology.”

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