Biological Physics
The model organism Physarum polycephalum is known to perform decentralised problem solving despite absence of nervous system. Experimental evidence and modelling studies have linked these abilities, and in particular maze-solving, to some…
Micro-calorimetry offers significant potential as a quantitative method for studying the structure and function of biological systems, for instance, by probing the excess heat released by cellular or sub-cellular structures, isothermal or…
Keratin composites enable animals to hike with hooves, fly with feathers, and sense with skin. These distinct functions arise from variations in the underlying properties and microscale arrangement of this natural polymer. One well-studied…
Self-assembly processes in biological and synthetic biomolecular systems are often governed by the spatial separation of biochemical processes. While previous work has focused on optimizing self-assembly through fine-tuned reaction…
Non-reciprocal interactions are a defining feature of many complex systems, biological, ecological, and technological, often pushing them far from equilibrium and enabling rich dynamical responses. These asymmetries can arise at multiple…
Autonomous implantable bioelectronics rely on wireless connectivity, necessitating highly efficient electromagnetic (EM) radiation systems. However, limitations in power, safety, and data transmission currently impede the advancement of…
We formulate a short-time expansion for one-dimensional Fokker-Planck equations with spatially dependent diffusion coefficients, derived from stochastic processes with Gaussian white noise, for general values of the discretization parameter…
Objective. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a fundamental mechanism underlying learning and memory, yet its investigation at the network level in vitro remains challenging, particularly when optogenetic stimulation is used. The objective of…
Reaction-diffusion equations describe various spatially extended processes that unfold as traveling fronts moving at constant velocity. We introduce and solve analytically a model that, besides such fronts, supports solutions advancing as…
As minimal cells or protocells are dramatically simpler than modern unicells it is possible to quantitatively estimate free energy changes for every process in the lifecycle of a protocell and compare these with estimates of the free energy…
Understanding how cells escape from embedded spheroids requires a mechanical framework linking stress generation within cells, across cells, and between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). We develop such a framework by…
Superintelligence is commonly envisioned as a quantitative extrapolation of human cognitive abilities driven by scale and computational power. Here we show that qualitative transitions in intelligence instead arise as dynamical phase…
Self-organized systems, from synthetic nanostructures to developing organisms, are composed of fluctuating units capable of forming robust functional structures despite noise. Here, we ask: are there fundamental bounds on the robustness of…
DNA methylation is a primary layer of epigenetic modification that plays a pivotal role in the regulation of development, aging, and cancer. The concurrent activity of opposing enzymes that mediate DNA methylation and demethylation gives…
Accurate sensing of chemical concentrations is essential for numerous biological processes. The accuracy of this sensing, for small numbers of molecules, is limited by shot noise. Corresponding theoretical limits on sensing precision, as a…
An active dissipative process organizes auditory frequency analysis in the mammalian cochlea. A minimal active beam model reveals that a spatially varying viscous coupling operator, $\partial_{xx}\kappa\partial_{xx}$, generates dissipative…
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps in our ability to predict viral emergence and trajectory. Moving beyond sequence-dependent surveillance, we introduce V-Reactor Dynamics, a physics-based framework that models host-virus…
During development, highly ordered structures emerge as cells collectively coordinate with each other. While recent advances have clarified how individual cells process and respond to external signals, understanding collective cellular…
Outer hair cells (OHCs) are essential for the sensitivity and frequency specificity of the mammalian ear. To perform this function, OHCs need to amplify the motion of the basilar membrane (BM), which is much stiffer than themselves. If OHCs…
The conditions necessary and sufficient for the Smoothed Dissipative Particle Dynamics (SDPD) equations of motion to have a Lagrangian that can be used for deriving these equations of motion, the Helmholtz conditions, are obtained and…