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Biological Physics & Quantitative Biology

Biological Physics applies approaches and methods of physics to unravel the underlying organizational principles of biological systems. Quantitative Biology addresses problems in biology, biomedicine, and ecology through image analysis, theory, computer simulations, and data visualization. Dresden is an internationally recognized hub for scientists working at the interface between physics, biology and computational science. We focus on the investigation of phenomena across all relevant scales – from individual molecules to sub-cellular organization and cellular properties to tissues, organs, and organisms. We ask how complex system behavior on a large scale can emerge from simpler physical and chemical interactions at smaller scales. We address these questions through close collaborations between theoretical physicists who provide the conceptual and modelling framework, experimental groups who develop and apply state-of-the-art techniques to obtain quantitative data, and cell and developmental biologists who provide the necessary biological expertise. Our tools include image analysis and image quantification algorithms, model-based image segmentation and cell tracking algorithms, adaptive particle methods for spatio-temporal simulations, parallel high-performance computing, multi-scale mechanistic model simulations, and deep learning.

Image © Diez Group

21 Research Groups

Ellen Adams

TUD PoL, HZDR Physical Chemistry of Biomolecular Condensates

© HTW, Peter Sebb

Sebastian Aland

HTW Dresden Modeling and Simulation of Dynamic Biological Interfaces

Elias Barriga

TUD PoL Biophysical Mechanisms of Morphogenesis

Jan Brugués

TUD PoL Self-organization of living matter

Otger Campàs

TUD PoL Physics of Embryonic Self-Organization and Morphogenesis

© TUD CMCB, Magdalena Gonciarz

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Stefan Diez

TUD B CUBE, TUD PoL Molecular transport in cell biology and nanotechnology

Natalie Dye

TUD PoL Biophysics of epithelial growth and tumorigenesis

© Humboldt Foundation

Miki Ebisuya

TUD PoL Cross-species comparison and manipulation of the organoid zoo

Karim Fahmy

HZDR Structural basis of biological switches and biomolecular recognition

© BIOTEC

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Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich

TUD PoL Mechanics of active biomaterials

© cfaed, Katharina Knaut

Benjamin Friedrich

TUD PoL, TUD cfaed Biological Algorithms: Spatio-temporal dynamics of cells and tissues

© TUD CMCB, M. Gonciarz

Alf Honigmann

TUD BIOTEC Membrane organization of cells and tissues

Marcus Jahnel

TUD PoL, TUD BIOTEC Dynamics of Biomolecules

© Jan Greune

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Felix Müller-Planitz

TUD MTZ Epigenetics and Chromatin: How chromatin forms and how it affects cellular functions

M. Teresa Pisabarro

TUD BIOTEC Computational approaches to functional genomics and rational engineering for target/drug discovery and biotechnology innovation

Helmut Schießel

TUD PoL Theoretical Physics of Living Matter

© TUD CMCB, Magdalena Gonciarz

Michael Schlierf

TUD B CUBE, TUD PoL Conformational changes in biomolecules and enzymes

© BIOTEC

Michael Schroeder

TUD BIOTEC Computational Drug Repositioning with Networks, Structures, Text & Ontologies

Anna Taubenberger

TUD BIOTEC Oncomechanics

Xingbo Yang

TUD PoL Bioenergetics of Self-Organization

© B CUBE

Yixin Zhang

TUD B CUBE Drug design and screening: from biochemical methods to 3D model system