Oncology & Cancer

How unique immune cells can recognize and destroy tumors

Gamma delta T cells, a special type of cell in the immune system, are incredibly effective at recognizing and killing cancer cells. Cancer patients with higher levels of these T cells in their tumors tend to fare better than ...

Oncology & Cancer

Model system provides insight into the growth of pancreatic tumors

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a novel model system that can be used to precisely track the growth steps and three-dimensional arrangement of pancreatic cancer cells. It also provides ...

Neuroscience

Scientists zero in on genetic causes of Parkinson's

Variants of at least 20 different genes have been closely linked to the development of Parkinson's disease, but scientists are still investigating how exactly they cause the severe and incurable motor disorder that afflicts ...

Neuroscience

Widespread brain receptor hides surprising mechanism of action

One of the most important molecules in the brain doesn't work quite the way scientists thought it did, according to new work by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Carnegie Mellon ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Antibody protects against broad range of COVID-19 virus variants

The virus that causes COVID-19 today is not the same as the one that first sickened people way back in December 2019. Many of the variants circulating now are partially resistant to some of the antibody-based therapeutics ...

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Biophysics

Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems. Biophysical research shares significant overlap with biochemistry, nanotechnology, bioengineering, agrophysics and systems biology.

Molecular biophysics typically addresses biological questions that are similar to those in biochemistry and molecular biology, but the questions are approached quantitatively. Scientists in this field conduct research concerned with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis, as well as how these interactions are regulated. A great variety of techniques are used to answer these questions.

Fluorescent imaging techniques, as well as electron microscopy, x-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are often used to visualize structures of biological significance. Conformational change in structure can be measured using techniques such as dual polarisation interferometry and circular dichroism. Direct manipulation of molecules using optical tweezers or AFM can also be used to monitor biological events where forces and distances are at the nanoscale. Molecular biophysicists often consider complex biological events as systems of interacting units which can be understood through statistical mechanics, thermodynamics and chemical kinetics. By drawing knowledge and experimental techniques from a wide variety of disciplines, biophysicists are often able to directly observe, model or even manipulate the structures and interactions of individual molecules or complexes of molecules.

In addition to traditional (i.e. molecular and cellular) biophysical topics like structural biology or enzyme kinetics, modern biophysics encompasses an extraordinarily broad range of research, from bioelectronics to quantum biology involving both experimental and theoretical tools. It is becoming increasingly common for biophysicists to apply the models and experimental techniques derived from physics, as well as mathematics and statistics (see biomathematics), to larger systems such as tissues, organs, populations and ecosystems.

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