Researching Life at the Molecular Level
Biophysicists seek to understand the fundamental processes of life by applying the methods of physics and chemistry to biological systems. Understanding these biological systems and their complex processes requires exquisitely detailed knowledge of molecular structures and molecular functions. To investigate life at this most basic level, biophysicists use some of the most powerful tools available-X ray crystallography, optical and laser spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and advanced computational science.
Research Areas
Research Area Faculty
Nozomi Ando, Associate Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: new structural biology tools to study protein allostery and enzymes dynamics; x-ray techniques, cryo-electron microscopy, and bioinformatics
Barbara Baird, Horace White Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of cell surface receptors, and participation of plasma membrane in signaling events
Peng Chen, Peter J. W. Debye Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: Single-molecule super-resolution imaging, protein-DNA/protein interactions, membrane complex assembly, single-cell imaging, nanoscale (photo)(electro)catalysis, polymerization catalysis
Iwijn De Vlaminck, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: development of precision medicine technologies for microbiology and immunology and the application of these technologies in the monitoring of infectious diseases and immune-related complications
Matthew Paszek, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Research Interests: Mechano-transduction; membrane biophysics; super-resolution imaging; cancer biophysics
Lois Pollack, Professor, Applied and Engineering Physics
Research Interests: The Pollack lab develops and applies new tools to measure the structural dynamics of macromolecules and their complexes
Michelle Wang, James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of Physical Sciences and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Physics
Research Interests: Mechanisms of motor protein collision and navigation; chromatin dynamics and remodeling; torsional mechanics of replication and transcription; development of innovative single-molecule mechanical manipulation techniques
Mingming Wu, Associate Professor, Biological and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests: Single cell analysis, cell mechanics, microfluidics and optical imaging
Chris Xu, IBM Chair, Professor of Engineering, Applied and Engineering Physics
Research Interests: Biomedical imaging, fiber optics, optical instrumentation
Warren Zipfel, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: optical imaging, bioanalytical instrumentation and single molecule methodologies that enhance biophysical and biomedical research; cancer biology and transcriptional regulation
Research Area Faculty
Nozomi Ando, Associate Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: new structural biology tools to study protein allostery and enzymes dynamics; x-ray techniques, cryo-electron microscopy, and bioinformatics
Richard Cerione, Goldwin Smith Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology,Molecular Medicine
Research Interests: Biophysics of cellular signal transduction; X-ray and cryo-EM structures of complex signaling systems
Brooks Crickard, Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics
Research Interests: mechanisms of chromosome maintenance and genomic stability; biophysical approaches with special emphasis on single molecule fluorescence microscopy
Laura Gunn, Assistant Professor, Integrative Plant Sciences
Research Interests: sequence-structure-function of nature’s carbon-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, using structural biology, synthetic biology and protein engineering approaches
Toshi Kawate, Associate Professor, Molecular Medicine
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of extracellular signaling; membrane receptors, channels, and enzymes; X-ray crystallography; Cryo-EM; electrophysiology; functional reconstitution of integral membrane proteins
Linda Nicholson, Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics
Research Interests: structural and dynamics studies of proteins
Lois Pollack, Professor, Applied and Engineering Physics
Research Interests: develop and apply new tools to measure the structural dynamics of macromolecules and their complexes
Erik Thiede, Assistant Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: AI with physical simulation to understand protein conformational change; Integrating Cryo-EM with Molecular Simulation; AI-accelerated allosteric drug discovery; New Markov State Modelling algorithms
Robert Thorne, Professor, Physics
Research Interests: new methods for probing protein structure and dynamics using X-rays; variable temperature crystallography; cryogenic temperature small angle X-ray scattering; radiation damage by X-rays; ice and glass formation in nanoconfined and biological systems
Haiyuan Yu, Professor, Computational Biology
Research Interests: Network Systems Biology, Deep learning (large language models), Molecular evolution, Statistical genetics, Mass spectrometry, Structural proteomics and protein modeling, functional genomics, protein networks, gene regulation, understanding how noncoding and coding genomic variation in disease and across populations affect gene expression, protein structure and function, and lead to complex traits.
Research Area Faculty
Itai Cohen, Professor, Physics
Research Interests: Origami, origami mechanics, origami metamaterials, origami robotics, complex fluids, colloids, rheology, colloid rheology, shear thickening, tunable shear thickening, shear thinning, confocal rheoscope, SALSA, suspension stresses, cartilage mechanics
Iwijn De Vlaminck, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: development of precision medicine technologies for microbiology and immunology; applications in the monitoring of infectious diseases and immune-related complications
Eric Dufresne, Professor
Research Interests: Physics of biological materials, including biomolecular condensates, cytoskeletal filaments and networks, lipid membranes, and extra-cellular matrix
Andrea Giometto, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests: We seek to understand how ecological and evolutionary processes play out in spatially extended populations using quantitative models inspired by statistical and soft matter physics, experiments with microbial populations, genetic engineering and genetics.
Laura Gunn, Assistant Professor, Integrative Plant Sciences
Research Interests: sequence-structure-function of nature’s carbon-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, using structural biology, synthetic biology and protein engineering approaches
Linda Nicholson, Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics
Research Interests: structural and dynamics studies of proteins
James Sethna, Professor, Physics
Research Interests: Statistical mechanics; condensed-matter physics; biophysics; systems biology; materials science
Z. Jane Wang, Professor, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Physics
Research Interests: Physics of living organisms; insect flight; fluid dynamics; computational and applied mathematics
Haiyuan Yu, Professor, Computational Biology
Research Interests: Network Systems Biology, Deep learning (large language models), Molecular evolution, Statistical genetics, Mass spectrometry, Structural proteomics and protein modeling, functional genomics, protein networks, gene regulation, understanding how noncoding and coding genomic variation in disease and across populations affect gene expression, protein structure and function, and lead to complex traits.
Research Area Faculty
Itai Cohen, Professor, Physics
Research Interests: Origami, origami mechanics, origami metamaterials, origami robotics, complex fluids, colloids, rheology, colloid rheology, shear thickening, tunable shear thickening, shear thinning, confocal rheoscope, SALSA, suspension stresses, cartilage mechanics
Matthew Paszek, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Research Interests: Mechano-transduction; membrane biophysics; super-resolution imaging; cancer biophysics
Research Area Faculty
Barbara Baird, Horace White Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of cell surface receptors, and participation of plasma membrane in signaling events
Richard Cerione, Goldwin Smith Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Molecular Medicine
Research Interests: Biophysics of cellular signal transduction; X-ray and cryo-EM structures of complex signaling systems
Peng Chen, Peter J. W. Debye Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: Single-molecule super-resolution imaging, protein-DNA/protein interactions, membrane complex assembly, single-cell imaging, nanoscale (photo)(electro)catalysis, polymerization catalysis
Andrea Giometto, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests: We seek to understand how ecological and evolutionary processes play out in spatially extended populations using quantitative models inspired by statistical and soft matter physics, experiments with microbial populations, genetic engineering and genetics.
Roger Loring, Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics; semiclassical approximations to quantum dynamics; nonlinear infrared spectroscopy of biomolecules
Linda Nicholson, Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics
Research Interests: structural and dynamics studies of proteins
Robert Thorne, Professor, Physics
Research Interests: new methods for probing protein structure and dynamics using X-rays; variable temperature crystallography; cryogenic temperature small angle X-ray scattering; radiation damage by X-rays; ice and glass formation in nanoconfined and biological systems
Michelle Wang, James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of Physical Sciences and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Physics
Research Interests: Mechanisms of motor protein collision and navigation; chromatin dynamics and remodeling; torsional mechanics of replication and transcription; development of innovative single-molecule mechanical manipulation techniques
Mingming Wu, Associate Professor, Biological and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests: Single cell analysis, cell mechanics, microfluidics and optical imaging
Warren Zipfel, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: optical imaging, bioanalytical instrumentation and single molecule methodologies; cancer biology and transcriptional regulation
Research Area Faculty
Barbara Baird, Horace White Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of cell surface receptors, and participation of plasma membrane in signaling events
Richard Cerione, Goldwin Smith Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Molecular Medicine
Research Interests: Biophysics of cellular signal transduction; X-ray and cryo-EM structures of complex signaling system
Toshi Kawate, Associate Professor, Molecular Medicine
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of extracellular signaling; membrane receptors, channels, and enzymes; X-ray crystallography; Cryo-EM; electrophysiology; functional reconstitution of integral membrane proteins
Matthew Paszek, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Research Interests: Mechano-transduction; membrane biophysics; super-resolution imaging; cancer biophysics
Research Area Faculty
Peng Chen, Peter J. W. Debye Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: Single-molecule super-resolution imaging, protein-DNA/protein interactions, membrane complex assembly, single-cell imaging, nanoscale (photo)(electro)catalysis, polymerization catalysis
Brooks Crickard, Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics
Research Interests: mechanisms of chromosome maintenance and genomic stability; biophysical approaches with special emphasis on single molecule fluorescence microscopy
Roger Loring, Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics; semiclassical approximations to quantum dynamics; nonlinear infrared spectroscopy of biomolecules
Erik Thiede, Assistant Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Research Interests: AI with physical simulation to understand protein conformational change; Integrating Cryo-EM with Molecular Simulation; AI-accelerated allosteric drug discovery; New Markov State Modelling algorithms
Michelle Wang, James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of Physical Sciences and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Physics
Research Interests: Mechanisms of motor protein collision and navigation; chromatin dynamics and remodeling; torsional mechanics of replication and transcription; development of innovative single-molecule mechanical manipulation techniques
Warren Zipfel, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: optical imaging, bioanalytical instrumentation and single molecule methodologies; cancer biology and transcriptional regulation