Biophysics

Yale’s Integrated Graduate Program in Physical and Engineering Biology (PEB for short) was established to train a new generation of scientists who are skilled at applying physical and engineering approaches to biological research, and who are also sufficiently sophisticated in their biological training that they can readily identify and tackle cutting-edge problems in the life sciences. The PEB leadership is committed to a new paradigm that transcends traditional, artificial, boundaries both between disciplines and also between research, teaching, and learning.

Physics PEB students benefit from

Frequent interdisciplinary interactions. Being part of PEB means that you will meet and interact with graduate students, postdocs and faculty affiliated with many different departments, and spread across the Science Hill area, the Yale School of Medicine, West Campus, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Courses co-taught by faculty from biology, engineering and physics PEB courses are taught by pairs of faculty with complimentary expertise, many of whom also collaborate.
Working with peers from a different background than yours. Several PEB courses incorporate peer teaching, helping physicists learn biology and how to communicate effectively with other disciplines.
PEB Discussion Group is a monthly seminar, focusing on research-in-progress talks. Two PEB students with complimentary backgrounds organize the talks. Click here for more info.
Outreach opportunities. PEB students participate in outreach activities including devising and implementing science modules for Breakthough New Haven, a program that prepares middle school students from disadvantaged backgrounds for high school; working with 4-7th grade summer campers; and participating in activities planned by the Yale Science Diplomats.
Professional development activities include a PEB Career Series and participation in a “Short Course on Communicating Science to the Public” led by the former chief science and health correspondent of NBC News, Bob Bazell.
Physics of Living Systems Student Research Network (PoLS SRN) serves to connect physics students, working at the physics-biology interface, from institutions across the world. All first-year PEB students attend the annual meeting of the PoLS SRN, held at one of the institutions in the network, and present. More senior students give oral or poster presentations on their research. The PoLS SRN also funds short research exchanges.
Physics PEB students receive a Physics Ph.D. and also a Certificate of Completion from the program.

For further information see, Physical Engineering and Biology (PEB)

Experiments

Faculty

	Damon Clark Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and of Physics and of Neuroscience YSB C148 damon.clark@yale.edu +1 (203) 432-0750 Research Website	Experimentalist Current Projects: How networks of neurons perform computations
	Thierry Emonet Lewis B. Cullman Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Professor of Physics YSB C169 thierry.emonet@yale.edu +1 (203) 432-3516 Research Website	Theorist & Experimentalist Current Projects: We are currently running experiments and theory studying how cells and flies sense chemicals and use that information to make decisions during goal oriented tasks such as chemical navigation. We study these processes from molecules to animal behavior.
	Jonathon Howard Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry Bass 334 jonathon.howard@yale.edu 203-432-7245 Research Website	Experimentalist Current Projects: Mechanics of Motor Proteins and the Cytoskeleton
	Andre Levchenko John C. Malone Professor of Biomedical Engineering Systems Biology Institute andre.levchenko@yale.edu +1 (203) 737-3088 Research Website	Experimentalist Current Projects: Quantitative analysis of signaling pathways regulating biological phenotype: Signaling Pathway Dynamics, Gradient Sensing, Bacteria-Host Interactions, Differentiation of Stem Cells, Control of Cell Shape & Polarity, Hetertypic Cell Interaction, Networks
	Christopher Lynn Assistant Professor YSB C147 christopher.lynn@yale.edu Research Website	Theorist Current Projects: We are interested in understanding how structure and function emerge in complex living systems, particularly the brain. We study how individual neurons interact to form networks; how whole-brain activity orchestrates cognition; and how humans communicate to process information. We approach these problems from a statistical physics perspective: seeking to identify the key minimal ingredients that combine to produce collective macroscopic phenomena.
	Benjamin Machta Assistant Professor of Physics YSB-C164 benjamin.machta@yale.edu +1 (203) 432-3650 Research Website He/him/his	Theorist Current Projects: Our research focuses on understanding how biological systems operate using approaches from theoretical physics. We use statistical physics to understand the structure and function of biological membranes, which experiments have shown operate close to a demixing critical point in the Ising universality class. They also use tools from information theory to place physical bounds on the ability of organisms to function that arise from their limited ability to measure their environment and from their limited energy budget.
	Simon Mochrie Professor of Physics & Applied Physics SPL 68C simon.mochrie@yale.edu 203-436-4809, 203-432-4086 Research Website He/him/his	Experimentalist Current Projects: Single Molecule Optical Tweezers Measurement on Nucleosomes, Fast Scanning Random Access STED Microscopy, Protein Degradation in Yeast, The Role of Peripheral Chromatin in Nuclear Mechanics
	Michael Murrell Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Physics Systems Biology Institute, 850 West Campus Drive, Rm 359 michael.murrell@yale.edu +1 (203) 737-6618 Research Website He/him/his	Experimentalist Current Projects: Stochastic Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics, Experimental Biological De Novo Assembly, Mechanics of ‘Active’ Interfaces, Active Wetting of Living Cells & Tissues
	Corey O'Hern Professor of Mechanical Engineering ML 203 corey.ohern@yale.edu +1 (203) 432-4258 Research Website	Theorist Current Projects: Soft Matter Research: Quasi-one dimensional models for glassy behavior, the connection between percolation in configuration space and glassy dynamics, statistical mechanics of static and slowly flowing granular media, jamming in systems composed of anisotropic particles and with polymer constraints Biological Physics Research: Smart, designer, protein-based nanogels; understanding the structural and mechanical properties of epithelial cells, Nanoscale approaches to screening small molecule inhibitors of toxic amyloid species in neurogegenerative disease; protein folding and misfolding
	Alison Sweeney Associate Professor of Physics and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology SCL 207 alison.sweeney@yale.edu	Experimentalist Current Projects: Protein Self-Assembly, Interaction of light with marine organisms, Rheology of marine organisms, Biopolymer Oganization

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Biophysics

Physics PEB students benefit from

Experiments

Faculty