Biophysics
Biophysicists look at biological systems, ask how their structure and function are explained by the laws of physics, and then apply physical methods to understand biological structure and function. Research on molecular mechanisms of fundamental biological processes and of biomedical diagnostics is pushing the limits of physics. Several faculty members in the graduate field of applied physics and their research groups have strong research and teaching activities in biophysics. These groups have also developed interdisciplinary collaborations with Cornell faculty, both in Ithaca and at Weill Cornell Medical College, as well as with other groups worldwide.
The research groups working in the field of biophysics are highly interdisciplinary, including students and postdoctoral associates from fields such as applied physics, physics, biophysics, electrical engineering, chemistry, biochemistry, neurobiology, and other fields of the life sciences.
Research topics currently investigated encompass studies of biological activity across many length and time scales. The following representative examples indicate the broad scope of current research activities. In one group, instrumentation is being developed to permit imaging deep inside of living tissues. Another set of projects focuses on biological processes at the cellular level, including studies of how cells communicate (exocytosis, intracellular signaling, neurotransmitter release). State-of-the-art tools employed in this research include multiphoton and confocal microscopy, patch clamping, and optical tweezers. On the molecular level, both micro and nanofabrication techniques are employed to probe processes ranging from protein or RNA folding to DNA sequencing. Much of the Biophysics research relies on the presence of unique facilities and centers at Cornell, including the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, the Developmental Resource for Biophysical Imaging Opto-Electronics, the Cornell NanoScale Science & Technology Facility and the Cornell Nanobiotechnology Center.
For graduate students, support is available through fellowships from the National Institutes of Health Molecular Biophysics Training Grant, the Cornell Graduate Field of Biophysics, and the Keck Program in Cellular and Molecular Biophysics of Signal Transduction.
FACULTY AND THEIR RESEARCH INTERESTS IN THIS AREA:
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Itai Cohen Assistant Professor of Physics, Physics Department Complex matter physics: colloidal suspensions, biological tissues; Fluid-membrane interfaces |
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Harold G. Craighead Charles W. Lake, Jr. Professor of Engineering, Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics, AEP Nanofabrication, physics of ultrasmall solid-state devices and structures, biological nanostructures |
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Sol M. Gruner John L. Wetherill Professor of Physics, Professor of Physics, Physics Department Biological physics; polymer and other soft condensed matter physics; x-ray and synchrotron radiation science; science instrumentation and technique development; development of novel x-ray detectors |
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Manfred Lindau Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics, AEP Cellular and molecular biophysics, mechanisms of exocytosis and endocytosis in cell biology |
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Lois Pollack Associate Professor Applied and Engineering Physics, AEP Biophysics: RNA folding, electrostatics and DNA, protein conformational dynamics |
David I. Shalloway |
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Watt W. Webb S.B. Eckert Professor in Engineering, Professor of Applied Physics, AEP Medical multiphoton microscopy endoscopy, cellular and membrane biophysics, molecular mobility, channel molecules and transmembrane signaling, multiphoton microscopy, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, biophysical and medical instrumentation development |
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Chris Xu Associate Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics; Director of Graduate Studies, AEP Biomedical imaging, optical instrumentation, and optical communications |
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Warren R. Zipfel Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering Biomedical imaging & instrumentation |
