Life holds some of the most exciting questions in science, and some of the most complex examples of emergent behaviour and multi-scale phenomena. New concepts in physics are needed to address frontier aspects of living systems, to support both our discovery of the fundamental general principles of life, and to enable us through a better understanding of life to take care of living systems, be it to preserve ecological systems or human health. Physics also continues its strong tradition of developing new techniques, an effort that dovetails to addressing new questions and underpinning theoretical modelling.
Researchers in this theme work on a variety of aspects, from quantitative understanding of development and tissue maintenance, to detecting the earliest signs of cancer, from new insights at the molecular and biosensing scale to interactions of multiples species in symbiotic relationships or infectious diseases.
Within the Cavendish, in the Physics of Medicine building, we are equipped with unique facilities to work on a wide variety of biological organisms including pathogens, and also to fabricate microfluidic and organ-on-chip devices, as well as a variety of original bespoke instruments and experiments. Optical imaging is at the heart of many of our experimental labs. We have strong links within the department with colleagues in Theory of Condensed Matter (TCM) and in the Physics of Soft Matter and NanoSystems theme. Across the university we are leading the Centre for Physical Biology and the Precision Health Initiative. These initiatives match to UK and international efforts with which we are also integrated.
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Physical BiologyThe interplay between physical and life sciences is essential to unlock many of the outstanding big challenges in living systems. Important outstanding questions in modern biology require a fully quantitative approach, starting from the experimental methods, the substance and robustness of the data, and physically-grounded models. Developing new experimental methodologies, from single molecule microscopy to microfluidics, and modelling approaches, from analytical (developing statistical mechanics, soft matter physics or dynamical systems) to computational, we aim to understand how biological processes interact across many scales, for example in development, and to understand how perturbation of these dynamic processes contributes to disease. Some of the specific systems we explore are virus and bacterial infections, malaria, physical aspects of the lung and associated respiratory diseases. We are leading the Centre for Physical Biology in Cambridge which brings together the community across the University. |
Precision HealthWe are now entering a new era of precision health, which shifts towards proactively preventing and managing the earliest signs of disease at the level of the individual, rather than simply responding to manifest symptoms. Delivering on the promise of precision health requires a paradigm shift in biosensing and imaging, with advances in both physical sensing hardware and quantitative methods to robustly analyse and interpret the resulting wealth of data. We are leading the Precision Health Initiative in Cambridge to understand the broader impact of proactive medicine, including perspectives from biological, social and clinical sciences. |
Researchers and Research Groups associated with this theme
| Prof Teuta Pilizota |
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