Physics of Living Systems

Physics of Living Systems

eLife reviews research in which approaches from the physical sciences are used to provide insights into the properties of biological systems and processes. Learn more about what we review and sign up for the latest research.
Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Latest articles

    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Fragmentation and aggregation of cyanobacterial colonies

    Yuri Z Sinzato, Robert Uittenbogaard ... Maziyar Jalaal
    Flow experiments show how the formation of cyanobacterial colonies is driven by cell division, aggregation, and fragmentation under different hydrodynamic conditions.
    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Revealing global stoichiometry conservation architecture in cells from Raman spectral patterns

    Ken-ichiro F Kamei, Koseki J Kobayashi-Kirschvink ... Yuichi Wakamoto
    Conservation levels of gene expression abundance ratios are globally coordinated in cells, and cellular state changes under such biologically relevant stoichiometric constraints are readable as low-dimensional changes in Raman spectra.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Enhanced bacterial chemotaxis in confined microchannels occurs at lane widths matching circular swimming radius

    Caijuan Yue, Chi Zhang ... Junhua Yuan
    Geometric confinement paradoxically enhances bacterial chemotaxis through chiral surface swimming and sidewall alignment, with optimal performance when lane width matches the circular swimming radius.
    1. Physics of Living Systems
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Detecting directed motion and confinement in single-particle trajectories using hidden variables

    François Simon, Guillaume Ramadier ... Lucien E Weiss
    Exatrack is a framework for analyzing Brownian, directed, and confined motion using a hidden-variable probabilistic model to extract physical insight into particle diffusion.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Out-of-balance Growth Enables Cost-free Synthesis of the Flagellum and Other Proteins in a Single Bacterium

    Mayra Garcia-Alcala, Josiah C Kratz, Philippe Cluzel
    Not revised
    Reviewed Preprint v1
    • Important
    • Convincing
    1. Neuroscience
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    A deep learning pipeline for mapping in situ network-level neurovascular coupling in multi-photon fluorescence microscopy

    Matthew W Rozak, James R Mester ... Bojana Stefanovic
    A novel pipeline for analyzing longitudinal two-photon microscopy data of cerebrovasculature in mice interrogates the vasculature network before and after optogenetic stimulation, revealing new insights into their coordination.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    The cytoplasm of living cells can sustain transient and steady intracellular pressure gradients

    Majid Malboubi, Mohammad Hadi Esteki ... Guillaume Charras
    Stable pressure gradients can arise in cells from the combination of actomyosin-generated cortical tension, cytoplasmic poroelasticity, and water flows across the membrane.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    A Coma Pattern-Based Autofocusing Method Resolves Bacterial Cold Shock Response at Single-Cell Level

    Sihong Li, Zhixin Ma ... Shuqiang Huang
    Not revised
    Reviewed Preprint v1
    • Important
    • Solid
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Should I stay or should I go? Spatiotemporal dynamics of bacterial biofilms in confined flows

    Massinissa Benbelkacem, Gabriel Ramos ... Yohan Davit
    Revised
    Reviewed Preprint v2
    Updated
    • Important
    • Compelling
    1. Neuroscience
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    “What” × “When” working memory representations using Laplace Neural Manifolds

    Aakash Sarkar, Shangfu Zuo ... Marc W Howard
    Not revised
    Reviewed Preprint v1
    • Useful
    • Incomplete
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Highlights

    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Raman Spectroscopy: Probing the proteome

    Wei-Hsiang Lin, Chia-Liang Cheng
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Cell Migration: Pump up the volume

    Qin Ni, Sean X Sun
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Protein Tracking: Everything, everywhere, almost at once

    Jacob Kæstel-Hansen, Nikos S Hatzakis

Senior editors

  1. Felix Campelo
    Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
  2. Aleksandra Walczak
    Ecole Normale Superieure, France
  3. See more editors