Unravelling the workings of the animal body:A biophysical approach

Date: Friday 4 May 2012
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Location: Room 701, Rutherford Building
Contact: For further information regarding this event, please contact Rosalie Reilly by sending email to rosalie.reilly@canterbury.ac.nz or by calling 7404
Audience: The general public

Prof David Parry
Professor of Biophysics at the Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University

Unravelling the workings of the animal body:A biophysical approach

"Physics in our Lives" presupposes our very existence as humans. What is it that actually enables us to perceive and understand the physical phenomena that surround us? To begin to answer that enormously complex question we need to understand what makes us who we are. As a starting point consider that each of us must therefore have a defined structure, as well as an ability to move and to see. We must be able to replicate if our species is to have long-term viability. We must also have a brain. For these reasons our bodies contain (amongst a host of other important biological molecules) a range of fibrous structures including DNA - the blueprint of life; hair, bone and skin proteins that define our shape and give us protection against physical insult; muscle and tendon proteins that aid our locomotion; transparent corneal connective tissue that refracts light on to our retinas, thereby enabling us to see. Thanks to a variety of physics-based experimental techniques we now understand a great deal about the structure of these molecules, their modes of aggregation and the functions.

Biography: Professor David Parry David Parry has been active in research for 45 years and over that period has studied the structure and function of a variety of fibrous proteins, including those comprising connective tissues (skin, tendon, cornea), muscle (tropomyosin and myosin) and hair (keratin). Currently, he is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Biophysics and the recently retired Head of the Institute of Fundamental Sciences at Massey University. He has undertaken collaborative research all over the world and has spent significant periods in the UK (London, Oxford), Australia (Melbourne) and the USA (Boston) as well as in New Zealand. His scientific contributions have been recognized by election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the New Zealand Institute of Physics, the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry and the Institute of Physics (UK). David was also the President of the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) and Vice President of the International Council for Science (ICSU). In all, he has contributed more than 210 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals and has written and/or edited eight books.