About
Editors and people

Editors for Physics of Living Systems

We aim to review studies in which experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches, rooted in the physical sciences, are developed and/or applied to provide deep insights into the collective properties and function of multicomponent biological systems and processes. We also welcome descriptions of methods that could enable the interrogation of classes of biological systems in new ways, as well as interdisciplinary studies that bring together scientists and approaches from the physical and life sciences. Read the latest research in this subject area.

Type

Senior editors

Felix Campelo

The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain

Felix Campelo is a researcher specializing in membrane biophysics, cell biology, and fluorescence microscopy tools to understand intracellular organization. He did his PhD research in theoretical biophysics at the University of Barcelona and Tel Aviv University, developing computational and theoretical methods to study membrane shape and dynamics. In his postdoc at the Malhotra lab (CRG-Center for Genomic Regulation), he shifted to experimental cell biology and biochemistry to explore mechanisms of intracellular trafficking and the cooperation between lipids and proteins in organizing Golgi membranes.

Currently leading the Intracellular Dynamics and Nanoscopy lab at ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Felix and his interdisciplinary lab focus on organelle morphology and dynamics, with a particular interest in intracellular membrane trafficking in the early secretory pathway. They employ advanced microscopy techniques, molecular and cell biology tools, and theoretical biophysics to address fundamental topics in cell biology.

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems
Cell Biology
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
membrane mechanics
membrane curvature
intracellular trafficking
membrane organization
membrane contact sites
Golgi complex
endoplasmic reticulum exit sites
super-resolution microscopy
single-molecule microscopy

Experimental organism
human
S. cerevisiae

Competing interests statement
Dr Campelo receives funding from Government of Spain, Fundació Privada Cellex, Fundació Privada Mir-Puig, and Generalitat de Catalunya.
Aleksandra Walczak

Ecole Normale Superieure, France

Aleksandra Walczak received her PhD in physics at UCSD working on models of stochastic gene expression. After a graduate fellowship at KITP, she was a Princeton Center for Theoretical Science Fellow, focusing on applying information theory to signal processing in small gene regulatory networks. Currently she is a CNRS researcher at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, interested in a variety of problems in the physics of living systems.

She actively works on development, collective behavior of bird flocks and statistical descriptions of the immune system.

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Immunology and Inflammation
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
biophysics
quantitative immunology
probabilistic data analysis
theoretical models
development
collective behaviour

Competing interests statement
Aleksandra Walczak is the recipient of a CNRS-Chicago Cooperation Grant, a FACCTS CNRS-Chicago Cooperation Grant, an IRN CNRS Predictability, Adaptability Evolution network collaboration grant, a CNRS-MIT Cooperation Grant, a q-Life Grant "The physics of repair and silencing foci?, an ERC Proof of Concept Grant "Automated evaluation and correction of generation bias in immune receptor repertoires", a DFG CRC "Predictability in evolution", an ERC International Training Network QuanTII grant, and an ERC Consolidator Grant "Statistical physics of immune-viral co-evolution”.

Reviewing editors

Alaa A Ahmed

University of Colorado Boulder, United States

Expertise
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
biomechanics
motor control
motor learning
decision making
neuroeconomics
computational neuroscience
energetics

Experimental organism
human
Toby W Allen

RMIT University, Australia

Expertise
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Physics of Living Systems
Neuroscience

Research focus
computational biophysics
molecular dynamics
free-energy calculations
ion channels
ion permeation
membranes
Ariel Amir

Harvard University, United States

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
mathematical modeling
stochastic processes
microbial growth
cell size control
gene expression
microbial evolution
phenotypic variability
Nathalie Q Balaban

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
self-replicating matter
Patricia Bassereau

Institut Curie, France

Expertise
Cell Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
physics of cells
membrane biophysics
mechanobiology
intracellular traffic
endocytosis
adhesion
cellular protrusions
biomimetic membranes
Kurt Beam

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, United States

Expertise
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle
voltage-gated calcium channels
calcium release channels
Gordon Berman

Emory University, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
animal behavior
theoretical biophysics
computational neuroscience
computational ethology

Experimental organism
D. melanogaster
mouse
rat
Anne-Florence Bitbol

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne , Switzerland

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
biophysics
theory and modeling
protein sequence data
models of evolution
Irene Giardina

Università Sapienza, Italy

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
active living matter
collective behavior in groups (physicist perspective)s
Martin Graña

Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Computational and Systems Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
protein 3D structure
structural bioinformatics
structure/function relationships
evolution
Yaroslav Ispolatov

Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
evolution
diversification
adaptive dynamics
ecology
systems biology
CRISPR
Megan C King

Yale School of Medicine, United States

Expertise
Cell Biology
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Genetics and Genomics
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
nuclear envelope
nuclear lamins
LINC complex
nuclear mechanics
DNA repair
genome organisation

Experimental organism
mouse
David M Kramer

Michigan State University, United States

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Plant Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
photosynthesis
bioenergetics
electron and proton transfer
computation
phenotyping
phenomics
Sandeep Krishna

National Centre for Biological Sciences ‐ Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
gene regulatory networks
phage-bacteria interactions
microbial communities
multistability
oscillations and synchronization
Karsten Kruse

University of Geneva, Switzerland

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
cell migration
cell signalling
theoretical biology
molecular evolution
Melike Lakadamyali

University of Pennsylvania, United States

Expertise
Cell Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
super resolution microscopy
imaging
image analysis
chromatin structure
genome organisation
organelle trafficking
motor proteins
microtubule cytoskeleton

Experimental organism
human
mouse
David Lentink

University of Groningen, Netherlands

Expertise
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
animal locomotion
comparative biomechanics
animal navigation
movement ecology
evolutionary biology
biofluids
biophysics
bioinspired robotics
bioinspiration & biomimetics

Experimental organism
birds
insects
bats
plant seeds
fish
Pascal Martin

Institut Curie, France

Expertise
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
active mechanical processes
hair cells of the inner ear
molecular motors and the cytoskeleton
oscillations
mechanosensitivity
frequency selectivity
in vitro reconstituted motor systems

Experimental organism
rat
Xenopus
Alphee Michelot

Institut de Biologie du Développement, France

Expertise
Cell Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
cytoskeleton
actin dynamics
motility
endocytosis
cytokinesis
actin mechanics
energy conversion
force transduction

Experimental organism
S. cerevisiae
Babak Momeni

Boston College, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
microbial communities
community ecology
mathematical modelling
computational biology
applied microbiology
bioremediation
mycotoxins
nasal microbiota
Arvind Murugan

University of Chicago, United States

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
biological learning and adaptation in changing environments
learned behavious in materials
Marcos Nahmad

Centre for Research and Advanced Studies, Mexico

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Developmental Biology
Genetics and Genomics
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
growth control
drosophila genetics
developmental patterning
mathematical modelling
Richard A Neher

University of Basel, Switzerland

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Evolutionary Biology

Research focus
population genetics
evolution of RNA viruses
bioinformatics
Armita Nourmohammad

University of Washington, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Immunology and Inflammation

Research focus
population genetics
computational immunology
adaptive immunity
statistical physics
deep mutational scanning
information theory
statistical inference
gene expression evolution

Experimental organism
D. melanogaster
human
viruses
C. Brandon Ogbunugafor

Yale University, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Epidemiology and Global Health
Physics of Living Systems
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
disease ecology
microbial evolution
population genetics
epidemiology
evolutionary medicine

Experimental organism
E. coli
human
P. falciparum
S. cerevisiae
viruses
Benjamin L Prosser

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, United States

Expertise
Cell Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Chromosomes and Gene Expression

Research focus
cardiac function
muscle
cardiomyocytes
mechanotransduction
cytoskeleton
microtubules
sarcomere
Audrey Sederberg

Georgia Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
theoretical biophysics
computational neuroscience
neural dynamics
neural decoding
criticality
Agnese Seminara

Université Côte d'Azur, France

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
biomechanics of bacterial biofilm growth
violent discharge
atmospheric dispersal of fungal spores
computational navigation

Experimental organism
B. subtilis
mouse
Pierre Sens

Institut Curie, France

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
statistical physics
soft matter
membrane
cell mechanics
cell motility
organelles
Timothy J Stasevich

Colorado State University, United States

Expertise
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Cell Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
gene expression
transcription
translation
RNA biology
chromatin dynamics
genome organization
fluorescence microscopy
single molecule imaging
intrabodies
Daniel Y Takahashi

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Ecology
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
social interaction
vocal learning
neurophysiology
computational modeling
ontogeny of behavior
John C Tuthill

University of Washington, United States

Expertise
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
sensory coding
motor control
locomotion
animal behavior
proprioception
weird insects

Experimental organism
drosophila
chionea
David Van Valen

California Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
encoding
viral decision making
living systems
image segmentation
Jie Xiao

Johns Hopkins University, United States

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Cell Biology
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Physics of Living Systems
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
single molecule biophysics
microbiology
cell division
cell wall
gene expression

Experimental organism
E. coli
Bin Zhang

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
computational biophysics
molecular dynamics
chromatin organization
biomolecular condensates
genome folding
coarse graining
Moussa Zouache

University of Utah, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Medicine
Epidemiology and Global Health
Genetics and Genomics
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
visual neuroscience
population genetics
transcriptomics
proteomics
biology of aging
mathematical modelling
clinical research