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Physics of Life

The Physics of Life theme combines new biophysical and imaging approaches to explore dynamic processes in biomolecules, organelles, cells and organisms.

Insights from Physics research bring the opportunity to create novel biosensing technologies. We are advancing the frontiers of spatial resolution with light microscopy, atomic resolution with cryo-electron microscopy, temporal resolution with millisecond hydrogen/deuterium-exchange mass spectrometry, and sensitivity with novel single-molecule and single-cell detection methods.

Challenges we address include the dynamics of cellular behaviour during signalling, growth, or differentiation. We also explore the emergence of dynamics in neural circuits in animals and humans and how these can go wrong in disease. A further challenge is to understand how cellular couplings and hydrodynamics lead to large-scale coordination of cellular projections such as cilia or flagella, and how cells and small organisms move and react to stimuli. Non-linear computational models are developed in collaboration with Maths of Life colleagues.

Finally, we investigate the inner working of biological processes. This includes the astonishing emergent concept, dubbed Quantum Biology, which revolutionises the traditional description of life processes, built over the last century, by suggesting direct reliance on quantum phenomena. Specifically, we explore this question through experimental and theoretical studies of magnetoreception and biological magnetosensitivity, to assess its putative quantum underpinning.

Contributing research groups

   

Bertram Daum

Fabrice Gielen

Vicki Gold

Marc Goodfellow

Gaspar Jekely

Daniel Kattnig

Wolfram Moebius

Stefano Pagliara

Jonathan Phillips

David Richards

Soojin Ryu

Steffen Scholpp

Frank Vollmer

Kirsty Wan

Kyle Wedgwood

Bryony Williams

 

 

 

 

Kattnig  Group

Kattnig Group

CryoEM of protein assemblies and molecular machines

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Gielen Group

Gielen Group

high-throughput microfluidic imaging

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Gold Group

Gold Group

Structural Cell Biology

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Goodfellow  Group

Goodfellow Group

Mathematical modelling and analysis for living systems

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Jekely Group

Jekely Group

Neural circuits and behaviour

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Kattnig  Group

Kattnig Group

Quantum Biology and Computational BioPhysics

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Moebius Group

Moebius Group

Effects of the physical world on dynamics in biological systems

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Pagliara Group

Pagliara Group

Membrane transport in living systems

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Phillips Group

Phillips Group

Protein choreography group

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Richards Group

Richards Group

Mathematical Modelling of Living Systems 

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Ryu Group

Ryu Group

Developmental neurobiology of stress response

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Scholpp Group

Scholpp Group

Contact-mediated signalling in development and disease

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Vollmer Group

Vollmer Group

Optical microsensors for detecting physical, chemical and biological properties of single molecules

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Wan Group

Wan Group

Biophysics of microbial motility and behaviour 

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Wedgwood Group

Wedgwood Group

Collective dynamics in biological networks

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Williams Group

Williams Group

Microsporidia diversity and host-parasite interactions

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