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Biological physics is a branch of physics that deals with systems of a biological nature, from the scale of biological molecules to whole organisms and ecosystems. Biological physics typically uses quantitative physical approaches to address biological questions similar to those studied in biochemistry and molecular biology.
Understanding how cancer cells regulate their size is still largely an open question. The authors propose a method to infer the division strategy of leukemia cells via live cell fluorescence labeling and flow cytometry measurements combined with a mathematical model based on size-dependent growth and division rates.
By combining single-molecule spectroscopy, nanophotonic enhancement, and molecular simulations, the authors reveal the extremely rapid chain dynamics of single-stranded nucleic acids.
Morphing soft matter, which is capable of changing its shape and function in response to stimuli, has wide-ranging applications in robotics, medicine and biology. Recently, computational models have accelerated its development. Here, we highlight advances and challenges in developing computational techniques, and explore the potential applications enabled by such models.
A clear picture of how and why cells inevitably lose viability is still lacking. A dynamical systems view of starving bacteria points to a continuous energy expenditure needed for maintaining the right osmotic pressure as an important factor.
Spiral waves of cell density can form and propagate through bacterial biofilms. These waves are formed by a self-organization process that coordinates pulling forces between neighbouring cells.
The nuclear pore complex of eukaryotic cells senses the mechanical directionality of translocating proteins, favouring the passage of those that have a leading mechanically labile region. Adding an unstructured, mechanically weak peptide tag to a translocating protein increases its rate of nuclear import and accumulation, suggesting a biotechnological strategy to enhance the delivery of molecular cargos into the cell nucleus.
A distance-based mapping strategy using single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer via DNA eXchange (FRET X) enables full-length fingerprinting of intact protein sequences.