Biological Physics @ Princeton
What is Biological Physics?
Almost every area of modern biology, from molecular genetics to neuroscience, is being revolutionized by large scale, quantitative experiments and sophisticated theoretical analyses. From observing the dynamics of single biological molecules to building theories of neural networks, there are myriad challenges for physicists and biologists willing to explore the boundary between their disciplines.
Our work is animated by the belief that, as in other areas of physics, the striking qualitative phenomena of life should have correspondingly deep theoretical explanations, and that this understanding ultimately will be tested only by a new generation of quantitative experiments.
Why Biological Physics at Princeton?
Princeton University offers a unique environment for research and education at the interface between physics and biology. More than 25 faculty and fellows are currently engaged in biological physics research across campus. Barriers between departments are low, and are reduced by multidisciplinary initiatives such as the Lewis-Sigler Institute, the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, graduate programs in Quantitative and Computational Biology and Neuroscience, and the Biophysics certificate program for undergraduates.
Faculty
- Robert H. Austin: What physics can do for biology, what biology can do for physics. Dynamics of proteins, DNA and cells; the physics of cancer.
- William Bialek: Coding, computation and learning in the nervous system; noise and the physical limits to biological functions; statistical mechanics and information theory.
- Curtis G. Callan: Study of theoretically motivated biological questions, ranging from the thermodynamics of gene regulation in bacteria to the statistical physics of the adaptive immune system in humans.
- Thomas Gregor: Physical principles governing embryogenesis and cell communication from a systems perspective; measurement and analysis of molecular signaling dynamics in living multicellular organisms.
- Joshua Shaevitz: Experimental measurements of biological systems from molecules to animals. Fundamental questions of cell shape, collective motility, and animal behavior.
Associated Faculty
- John Hopfield Statistical dynamics in biology: Algorithms, biophysics, and 'hardware' in neurobiological computation
- David Tank: measurement and analysis of electrochemical signaling in the nervous system; neural integrators and short term memory; role of feedback in neural circuit dynamics.
- Ned Wingreen Modeling intracellular networks in bacteria: chemotaxis, quorum sensing, cell division, metabolism, circadian rhythms.
Biophysics Faculty in Other Departments
Michael J. Berry (MOL), Cliff Brangwynne (CBE), Iain Couzin (EEB), Edward Cox (MOL), Mikko Haataja (MAE), Michael Hecht (CHM), Philip Holmes (MAE), Leonid Kruglyak (EEB), Mala Murthy (MOL), Celeste Nelson (CBE), Stas Shvartsman (CBE), Howard Stone, (MAE), Salvatore Torquato (CHM), Samuel Wang (MOL), Haw Yang (CHM).
Research Fellows
- Chase Broedersz: Physical properties and self-assembly of biological structures such as tissue and the cellular cytoskeleton
- Tessa Calhoun: Dynamic interactions at biological membranes using optical pump-probe and second-harmonic generation microscopies
- Andrew Leifer: Optical neurophisiology of behavior
- Benjamin Machta: Statistical mechanics of membrane systems
- Jason Puchalla: Biophysics & Optical Methods for biology