Biophysics in Boston

By Isha Antani

 

Biophysics is an interdisciplinary field that looks at biology from the lens of physic fundamentals. Relying heavily on quantitative means and mathematical theorems, the field adds an an extra dimension to the study of biological principles. Due to its quantitative nature, biophysics primarily focuses on networks and communications found in both intra- and extra-cellular space.

 

Recently the Council for Systems Biology held an all-day session on Biophysics as part of its annual Cell, Circuits, and Computation meeting. Many of the talks held my interest, but one was a pure standout - that of Dr. Jennifer Ross from University of Massachusetts on the complexity in cytoskeletal networks. Dr. Ross gave a dynamic, vivid presentation on the "walking" mechanisms of the kinesin and dynein motor proteins and the reason for their specific localizations in the cell. It wasn't just the nature of the talk but the manner in which the talk was delivered that captivated the audience. Other talks in the conference covered areas from nuclear pores to cutting-edge microarray technology. Overall, the conference presented a fair insight into the interesting work being done in biophysics.