Proteins, supercooled liquids, and glasses: A micro-review

Proteins are complex systems that connect biology, biophysics, chemistry, and physics, and even mathematics. They share similarities with supercooled liquids and glasses, such as frustration, the existence of an energy landscape, and at least two types of fluctuations. Proteins are, however, far more complex and have functions that are essential for life. The study of the physics of proteins is much younger than the corresponding study of glasses and thus glasses and supercooled liquids can provide suggestions of what to look for in proteins. The present micro-review presents concepts that are common to proteins, supercooled liquids, and glasses and omits details that can be found in the original papers.