Biological Physics
The actin cortex is a thin layer of actin filaments and myosin motors beneath the outer membrane of animal cells. It determines the cells' mechanical properties and forms important morphological structures. Physical descriptions of the…
The outer hair cell (OHC) of the organ of Corti underlies a mechanically based process that enhances hearing, termed cochlear amplification. The cell possesses a unique motor protein, prestin, which senses voltage and consequently changes…
Brillouin imaging is increasingly recognized to be a powerful technique that enables non-invasive measurement of the mechanical properties of cells and tissues on a microscopic scale. This provides an unprecedented tool for investigating…
Models based on surfactant driven instabilities have been employed to describe pattern formation by swarming bacteria. However, by definition, such models cannot account for the effect of bacterial sensing and decision making. Here we…
We present a non-invasive, label-free method of imaging blood cells flowing through human capillaries in vivo using oblique back-illumination capillaroscopy (OBC). Green light illumination allows simultaneous phase and absorption contrast,…
The wings of Lepidoptera contain a matrix of living cells whose function requires appropriate temperatures. However, given their small thermal capacity, wings can overheat rapidly in the sun. Here we analyze butterfly wings across a wide…
Machine learning is increasingly recognized as a promising technology in the biological, biomedical, and behavioral sciences. There can be no argument that this technique is incredibly successful in image recognition with immediate…
Photosynthetic systems utilize adaptability to respond efficiently to fluctuations in their light environment. As a result, large photosynthetic yields can be achieved in conditions of low light intensity, while photoprotection mechanisms…
Coupling hemodynamics with vessel wall growth and remodeling (G&R) is crucial for understanding pathology at distal vasculature to study progression of incurable vascular diseases, such as pulmonary arterial hypertension. The present study…
Electrochemical biosensors and the related concept of redox detection at nanogap electrodes are increasingly explored for ultra-sensitive detection of biomolecules. While experimental demonstrations have been encouraging, the associated…
A hierarchy of timescales is ubiquitous in biological systems, where enzymatic reactions play an important role because they can hasten the relaxation to equilibrium. We introduced a statistical physics model of interacting spins that also…
Spatio-temporal analysis typically performed in botany and in statistical physics reveals persistent correlations of olive yields which range depend on the size of the averaging region. Mapping spatially correlated regions reveals areas…
The emergence of biomolecular homochirality is a critical open question in the field of origins of life. In order to seek out an answer to this unsettled issue, a number of mechanisms have been offered over time, but it still remains a…
A comparative study of the growth of S.aureus in different types of weak magnetic field shows that the growth of the bacteria is initially suppressed after inoculation in a new medium and then increased in the same pattern with or without…
We reduce a one-dimensional model of an active segment (AS), which is used, for instance, in the description of contraction driven cell motility on tracks, to a zero-dimensional model of an active particle (AP) characterized by two internal…
Two-Photon Laser-Scanning Microscopy is a powerful tool for exploring biological structure and function because of its ability to optically section through a sample with a tight focus. While it is possible to obtain 3D image stacks by…
Morphogenesis involves the dynamic interplay of biochemical, mechanical and electrical processes. Here we ask: to what extent can the course of morphogenesis be modulated and controlled by an external electric field? We show that above a…
In a classic paper, Edward Purcell analysed the dynamics of flagellated bacterial swimmers and derived a geometrical relationship which optimizes the propulsion efficiency. Experimental measurements for wild-type bacterial species E. coli…
The physical mechanism underlying the voltage-dependent gating of K channels is usually addressed theoretically using molecular dynamics simulations.However, besides being computationally very expensive, this approach is presently unable to…
Two-dimensional electronic spectra (2DES) provide unique ways to track the energy transfer dynamics in light-harvesting complexes. The interpretation of the peaks and structures found in experimentally recorded 2DES is often not…