In July 2009, many experts in the mathematical modelling of biological sciences gathered in Les Houches for a four-week summer school on the mechanics and physics of biological systems. The goal of the school was to present to students and researchers an integrated view of new trends and challenges in physical and mathematical aspects of biomechanics. While the scope for such a topic was very wide, the summer school focused on problems where solid and fluid mechanics play a central role. The school covered both the general mathematical theory of mechanical biology in the context of continuum m ... More

In July 2009, many experts in the mathematical modelling of biological sciences gathered in Les Houches for a four-week summer school on the mechanics and physics of biological systems. The goal of the school was to present to students and researchers an integrated view of new trends and challenges in physical and mathematical aspects of biomechanics. While the scope for such a topic was very wide, the summer school focused on problems where solid and fluid mechanics play a central role. The school covered both the general mathematical theory of mechanical biology in the context of continuum mechanics but also the specific modelling of particular systems in the biology of the cell, plants, microbes, and in physiology. The chapters in this book contain the lecture notes which are organized (as was the school) around five different main topics all connected by the common theme of continuum modelling for biological systems: bio-fluidics, bio-gels, bio-mechanics, bio-membranes, and morphogenesis. These notes are not meant as a journal review of the topic but rather as a gentle tutorial introduction on the basic problematic in modelling biological systems from a mechanics perspective.