Biophysics

Biophysics

Labs studying Biophysics

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Betterton Lab

The Betterton Lab studies the physics of cell division and related biophysics. They are specifically interested in motor protein dynamics and microtubule length regulation, cytoskeletal active matter, mitotic spindle assembly and regulation, chromosome segregation in cell division, and disordered proteins in the nuclear pore complex.Ìý

Calve Lab

The Calve Musculoskeletal ExtracellularÌý MatrixÌý Lab characterizes the material properties of assembling tissues to establish design parameters for regenerative therapies. They are particularly interested in the composition and spatial organization of the extracellular matrix, its influence on muscle mechanical properties, and the application of hyaluronic acid to muscle repair and regeneration.

Camley Lab

The Camley Lab is interested in theoretical solid-state physics and magnetic dynamics, which includes biophysical applications such as measuring temperature in MRI (medical imaging).Ìý

Ding Lab

The Ding Biomedical Microfluidics Lab are innovators in engineering cell functions for cell-based immunotherapy with a goal of reducing costs of disease diagnostics and therapeutics. They work at the frontiers of micro/nano engineering, biomedical engineering, acoustics, electronics, and other applied physics.Ìý

Ferguson Lab

The Ferguson Biomechanics and Biomimetic Lab studies how the microstructure, composition, and material properties of tissues influence mechanical behavior. Further, they examine how these properties change with disrupted mechanical loading, aging, or disease.

Figueroa Lab

The Figueroa-Morales Lab studies soft matter physics at the interface of microorganisms and the environment (such as bacteria moving through human mucus) using tools like microfluidics and quantitative video microscopy. They address practical problems like the transport of microorganisms in the environment and the prevention and treatment of medical conditions.Ìý

Hough Lab

The Hough Lab studies the physical properties of naturally disordered proteins using experimental physics, computational biology, and cell biology. They leverage their discoveries about proteins in healthy cells to understand how disordered proteins contribute to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Jayaram Lab

The Jayaram Animal Inspired Movement and Robotics Laboratory (AIM-RL) combines biology and robotics to uncover the principles of robustness underlying successful animal locomotion in natural environments and to inspire the design of next generation novel robots for real-world operation.Ìý

Lynch Lab

The Lynch Lab studies the skeletal mechanical environment and its regulation of cancer using mechanical loading model systems to correlate cellular function with cancer pathogenesis, tissue-level changes in tumor burden, and skeletal tissue strength. They aim to identify targets for treating and preventing bone metastases as well as cancer-associated reductions in bone strength.

Mukherjee Lab

The Mukherjee Lab investigates the flow, transport, and mechanical underpinnings of physiological processes and develops tools for disease biomechanics, medical device design, treatment planning, and drug delivery. A primary application area is in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular processes in healthy and diseased states, like stroke, thrombosis, and embolisms.Ìý

Neu Lab

The Neu Soft Tissue Bioengineering Lab develops technology for fundamental study and engineering of connective and cardiac tissues to inform new therapies for disorders of the connective and cardiac tissues, including arthritis and fibrosis. Biomechanics is a central lab theme, and they span multiple engineering and biology disciplines, including mechanical, electrical, micro/nanotechological, biochemical, and physiological subspecialties.Ìý

Palmer Lab

The Palmer Lab investigates how cells regulate and respond to metal ions, how pathogens alter cell biology, and how to engineer dynamic fluorescent proteins to report on cellular changes. Their work lies at the interface of chemistry and biology and has included the development of novel, genetically encoded molecular tools.Ìý

Peleg Lab

The Peleg Lab investigates how organisms or super-organism communities buffer themselves against large environmental fluctuations and adapt over a wide range of length and time scales. They combine computation, physics, engineering, mathematics, and biology and look to natural populations such as fireflies and honey bees for bioinspired technological solutions to infrastructure problems, including communications, robotics, and structural engineering.ÌýÌý

Perkins Lab

The Perkins Lab develops and applies high-precision single-molecule techniques—atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical traps—to address outstanding questions in a wide range of biological systems, from DNA-protein interactions to protein folding mechanobiology.Ìý