Biological Physics

	< > Boris Shklovskii Theorist Boris Shklovskii is studying, among other things, charge inversion in DNA with a computer simulation of electrophoresis (the migration of charged molecules such as proteins in an electrical field).

A member of Noireaux’s research group in the lab.

Physics of Biology

Welcome to the Biological Physics Group at the University of Minnesota!

In biological physics, quantitative aspects and ideas and techniques of physics research are applied to biological problems. Physics has been evolving in the direction of studying more complex systems, and in doing so, has begun to expand its subject area to include living systems.

For example, Professor Joachim Mueller leads an experimental group who are studying the kinetic pathways that occur when proteins misassemble, a topic that has relevance in research on Alzheimer's disease. His lab features a novel approach to fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy (a process where a fluorescent compound is injected into a cell and studied under a microscope) with the innovation of a high pressure cell that allows spectroscopy over a broad range of pressures.

Vincent Noireaux, experimentalist in biophysics, studies in vivo and in vitro gene expression, artificial cell, cytoskeleton and artificial motility.

Another experimentalist, John Broadhurst, analyzes signal processing in the human brain with a non-invasive technique known as magneto-encephalography, which measures activity in the audio cortex.

Theorist Boris Shklovskii is studying, among other things, charge inversion in DNA with a computer simulation of electrophoresis (the migration of charged molecules such as proteins in an electrical field).

Biological Physics Faculty John Broadhurst Research on the use of nuclear reactions to enhance the treatment of cancers by ionizing radiation. The experimental study of the role of heavy cations in the contaction of skeletal muscle cells., The experimental measurement of the velocities of stars to Jochen Mueller Experimental biophysics, two-photon excitation microscopy, fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy Vincent Noireaux Experimental biological physics and ynthetic biology. In vitro gene expression, artificial cell, cell motility and actin cytoskeleton. Boris Shklovskii Theory of transport and electron-electron correlations in disordered systems, quantum Hall effect, hopping conduction and metal-nonmetal transition.

Biological Physics Research Staff Jerome Chalmeau Synthetic biology & physical biology Yan Chen Jane (Jinhui) Li Brian Skinner

Biological Physics Graduate Students Christopher Angert Biophysics, instrumentation for time-correlated single photon counting Tianran Chen Sean Corum Jolene Johnson Yao Meng Jonghyeon Shin Elizabeth Smith

Related Links

• Mueller Group Home
• Biological Physics Home