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. Neuroscience
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    C9orf72 polyPR directly binds to various nuclear transport components

    Hamidreza Jafarinia, Erik van der Giessen, Patrick R Onck
    Length-dependent interference of arginine-containing dipeptide repeat proteins with multiple components of the nucleocytoplasmic transport machinery is a potential mechanistic pathway of C9orf72 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or frontotemporal dementia toxicity.
    1. Neuroscience
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Neural criticality from effective latent variables

    Mia C Morrell, Ilya Nemenman, Audrey Sederberg
    Signatures of criticality that have been observed across diverse neural systems, such as power-law avalanche distributions and exponent relationships, can arise without fine-tuning in networks coupled to latent, dynamical variables.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    A unified approach to dissecting biphasic responses in cell signaling

    Vaidhiswaran Ramesh, J Krishnan
    In-built competing effects are present at different levels in signaling networks, starting from basic biochemical building blocks to the network level, and mathematical and computational analysis reveals when they give rise to biphasic responses and what the consequences are.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Emergence of ion-channel mediated electrical oscillations in Escherichia coli biofilms

    Emmanuel U. Akabuogu, Victor Martorelli ... Thomas A. Waigh
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    The positioning mechanics of microtubule asters in Drosophila embryo explants

    Jorge de-Carvalho, Sham Tlili ... Ivo A Telley
    Using cytosolic explants from Drosophila syncytial embryos combined with quantitative microscopy and perturbations, the mechanical forces separating Drosophila microtubule asters are revealed.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Optical mapping of ground reaction force dynamics in freely behaving Drosophila melanogaster larvae

    Jonathan H. Booth, Andrew T. Meek ... Malte C. Gather
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Energetics of the microsporidian polar tube invasion machinery

    Ray Chang, Ari Davydov ... Manu Prakash
    Unraveling the ultrafast polar tube ejection in microsporidia reveals extreme cellular hydraulics, providing a data-driven model for infectious cargo transport, with implications for physical approaches to understanding microsporidia transmission.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    How microscopic epistasis and clonal interference shape the fitness trajectory in a spin glass model of microbial long-term evolution

    Nicholas M Boffi, Yipei Guo ... Ariel Amir
    High-resolution simulations of evolving microbial populations reveal that microscopic epistasis slows the rate of adaptation, while clonal interference can either speed it up or leave it fixed.

Senior editors

  1. Felix Campelo
    The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain
  2. Aleksandra Walczak
    Ecole Normale Superieure, France
  3. See more editors