The functioning of human lungs will be explored during the July 15 lecture "The Physics of Breathing" at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Ka Yee Lee, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago, will present the free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. in Duane Physics room G1B20 on the CU-Boulder campus.
She will use videos, photographs and overhead projections to show the audience the basics of how a lung functions -- sort of an "under the hood" look at the human lung.
Lee, a participating faculty member in a summer physics institute at CU-Boulder, also will discuss her research of one protein critical to the proper functioning of the lung. Understanding how this protein works in concert with others in the lung will help researchers improve a medical treatment for newborns suffering from a condition called respiratory distress syndrome that prevents them from breathing properly.
The lecture is part of the third annual Boulder Summer School for Condensed Matter and Material Physics, hosted by CU-Boulder. This year's school is devoted to the basic physics of "soft" materials.
The study of soft materials spans a broad range of disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology and engineering and is not only fundamental to understanding the world around us, but also is critical to developing new technologies, according to Leo Radzihovsky, a CU-Boulder physics professor and co-founder of the school.
Examples of soft materials include liquid crystals, which are at the heart of flat-panel computer display technology, and polymers, which make plastics possible.
"As Lee's lecture will describe, such materials also play a crucial role in biology, impact our understanding of physiology and hold promise for novel medical treatments," Radzihovsky said.
In 2000 the National Science Foundation provided a $780,000 grant to fund the school for five years. The National Institute for Standards and Technology in Boulder contributed $50,000 and CU-Boulder provided $80,000.
The school's goal is to enable students to work at the frontiers of science and technology by exposing them to a range of concepts, techniques and applications much broader than any single graduate program or postdoctoral apprenticeship can provide, he said.
Physics professors Steven Girvin at Indiana University, Andrew Millis at Rutgers University and Matthew Fisher at the University of California at Santa Barbara co-founded the school with Radzihovsky.
Professor Sidney Nagel of the University of Chicago will present a second public lecture as part of the school titled "Physics at the Breakfast Table." The lecture will be held Wednesday, July 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Duane Physics room G1B20.
For more information about the July 15 lecture call (303) 492-1515.