Biophysics

Last updated on Tue, 2012-02-14 18:01

Biophysics is the application of quantitative principles and methods to biological systems. Biophysics is thus interdisciplinary, and has much overlap with tools and ideas used in Chemistry. One can argue that there is no more interesting and important object than a biological one. Biological systems are interesting because of the novel behavior that emerges from their complexity, important because an understanding of biology relates directly to us as humans, and can lengthen our lives. Sir Peter Medawar, Nobel Laureate, writes in his book Advice To a Young Scientist, "Any scientist of any age who wants to make important discoveries must study important problems... It is not enough that a problem should be interesting." Our biophysics group spans the discipline from pure to applied science, from theoretical to experimental work, and from curiosity-driven science to health-based research.

An alphabetically-ordered list of our research topics follows; please click the headings below for more information:

Applied Biophysics Laboratory -- Dr. Andre Marziali

Dr. Andre Marziali's Applied Biophysics research laboratory specializes in the development of novel tools and methods for the analysis and manipulation of biomolecules. Combining specializations in Engineering, Biophysics and Molecular Biology the lab excels in interdisciplinary research projects and instrument development. Current research projects include single molecule DNA studies using nanopores, DNA manipulation and concentration by 2-D nonlinear electrophoresis, and technology development for genome science. The non-linear electrophoresis work is in collaboration with Boreal Genomics, a company founded by members of the Applied Biophysics Lab.

Non-linear electrophoresis for concentration and purification of nucleic acids. Image shows removal of soil contaminants from a sample, while fluorescently stained DNA is focused to the center of the cartridge (last frame).

(Larger images of recent research projects can be viewed here)

Biophysics and Microsystems Technology Group -- Dr. Carl Hansen

Dr. Carl Hansen's research is focused on the development of new microsystems instrumentation with applications with applications in cell biology, proteomics, and structural biology. Through integration and economy of scale, these tools will enable highly multiplexed measurements with increased throughput and reduced cost. Moreover, the unique physical properties of the micro-environment allow increased experimental precision and sensitivity, and the implementation of new types of measurements that are difficult, or impossible, in macroscopic devices. This work is highly interdisciplinary, requiring techniques in microfluidics, biophotonics, and nanotechnology, and naturally lies at the interface of biophysics, engineering, and biology.

Optical micrograph of a microfluidic formulator device. Fluidic logic and precision metering elements allow for arbitrary chemical mixtures to be generated within a 5 nanoliter mixing ring (centre).

Computational Soft Matter and Biophysics -- Dr. Joerg Rottler

Dr. Joerg Rottler's research uses computer simulations to understand and predict the behaviour of complex materials. Activities in his group aim at the development of so-called coarse-grained methods that are suitable for simulating biomolecular phenomena on biologically relevant time scales while retaining important nanoscale physics. Of particular importance are electrostatic and dielectric effects, which dominate many properties of charged macromolecules like DNA and proteins.

a high dielectric solvent (water) surrounds single ions or membrane channels with diameters of order 1 nm. The electrostatic response on the nanoscale is very different from continuum electrostatics.

Typical situations encountered in molecular biophysics: a high dielectric solvent (water) surrounds single ions or membrane channels with diameters of order 1 nm. The electrostatic response on the nanoscale is very different from continuum electrostatics.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory -- Dr. Carl Michal

Dr. Carl Michal's group uses nuclear magnetic resonance to study structure-properties-function relationships in a wide variety of materials, including biological materials such as spider silk, insect rubber (resilin), sea-snail egg capsule, and nano-crystalline cellulose, as well as potential electrode and polymer electrolyte materials for energy storage applications.

In addition to the material science applications of NMR, emphasis is placed on advancing the methodology and instrumentation used.

Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group -- Dr. Steven Plotkin

Theoretical Biophysics Group

The theoretical unfolding free energy landscape of the protein superoxide dismutase predicts regions in the protein that are susceptible to misfolding. Several of these regions have been validated in immunological assays, where antibodies raised to a disordered peptide containing the same sequence as that region in the protein will selectively bind to misfolded protein. Other predicted regions remain to be validated. Disease specific antibodies have potential application in diagnosing or even halting the progression of degenerative diseases.

Dr. Steven Plotkin's research group is actively involved in theoretical and computational biological physics. His research topics include dynamics, disorder, and interactions in the theory of protein folding, misfolding, and aggregation, DNA function and dynamics, and studies of pattern formation and symmetry breaking inmorphogenesis.

His research tools include the theoretical formalism of statistical field theories and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, along with large-scale parallel computing involving both simulation and modeling on the Westgrid computer cluster.

Faculty Engaged in Biophysics Research

Carl Hansen	Assistant Professor, Biophysics and Bioengineering	Research Website Research Field: Microsystems Technology for Biological Applications Topics include: Single-Cell Analysis, Molecular Diagnostics, genomics
Geoffrey Hoffmann	Associate Professor, Biophysics	Research Website Topics include: Theoretical Biology, Immune Network Theory, Neural Networks
Andre Marziali	Professor, Biophysics - Genomics Technologies	Research Website
Carl Michal	Associate Professor, Biophysics and Biological Materials	Research Website Research Field: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, biological and energy storage materials Topics include: Biological Materials, Optical Pumping, Artificial Muscles, NMR
Steven Plotkin	Associate Professor, Theoretical Physics	Research Website Research Field: Biophysics Theory and Computation Topics include: Protein Misfolding & Aggregation, DNA Structure and Dynamics with Coarse-Grained Models, Dielectric Properties of Proteins, The Role of Osmolytes and Denaturants on Protein Stability, Generalization of Distance to High-Dimensional Objects and Applications to Protein Folding Order Parameters, Electronic Polarization Effects in Protein Function and Ligand Binding
Joerg Rottler	Associate Professor, Condensed Matter/Computational Physics	Research Website Research Field: Soft Condensed Matter Topics include: Nonequilibrium dynamics of glassy systems, polymer physics, deformation and flow of amorphous materials, nucleation and growth phenomena, electrostatic effects in complex fluids

The University of British Columbia

Biophysics

Faculty Engaged in Biophysics Research

UBC Department of Physics & Astronomy

Research

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