Our research in this area spans many length and time scales: from aqueous solutions of small bioactive molecules through proteins and DNA to single cells, cell-cell interactions, and collection of organisms in ecosystems, studying phenomena occurring at picoseconds to decades. We use all three methodologies of physics: experiment, simulation and theory. Many experiments use optical techniques made available through COSMIC. Wet labs designed for routine work at biological hazard containment level 1, and upgradeable by containment level 2, are available. Among the powerful resources accessed by our computer simulators and theorists is a 5 teraflop IBM BlueGene-L supercomputer hosted by EPCC. Much of the research is closely tied to our programme on soft matter and statistical physics and complexity. Funding comes from EPSRC, BBSRC, DTI, Scottish Enterprise and the Wellcome Trust. Current grant income is in excess of £6M.
Physics of Living Matter are members of the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA) Physics and Life Sciences (PaLS) theme. The SUPA Graduate School offers annual Prize Studentships for PhD study (the typical deadline is end of January for entry in September).
