Broedersz Group - Theoretical statistical & biological physics 
We study the physics of life. We use a theoretical physics perspective to uncover the fundamental principles of living matter. A central question of our research is how functional behavior in biological systems emerges from the collective dynamics of its interacting constituents. Our group tackles this question using approaches from statistical mechanics and soft condensed matter physics. Visit our new website broederszgroup.com.
NEWS
Visit our new website broederszgroup.com.
Our paper on cell-cell interactions in confined cell migration is now out in PNAS. See also the LMU press release.
David's paper on inferring underdamped Langevin dynamics from stochastic trajectories is published in PRL [DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.058103].
Joris' paper on the unusual growth dynamics of Corynebacteria is up on the bioRxiv.
Joris' paper on resolving the order of the bacterial chromosome is up on the arXive!
Federico's paper on learning the non-equilibrium dynamics of Brownian movies is posted on the arXive.
Christian Hanauer won the LMU-wide research prize for his Master thesis on a theory for active transport mechanisms in bacteria. Congrats Christian!
Federica Mura successfully defended her PhD thesis on non-equilibrium scaling behavior in active biological assemblies!
Disentangling the behavioural variability of confined cell migration
We applied our dynamical systems approach to confined cell migration to the question of
cell-to-cell variability. David's paper on this is now up on the ArXive.
Scaling behavior of nonequilibrium measures in internally driven elastic assemblies
Want to know how how Mesoscopic non-equilibrium measures can reveal intrinsic features of the active driving? Check out Federica's last paper.
Grześ' and Federica's paper on scaling behavior of non-equilibrium measures in driven elastic assembles is published in PRE!
Non-linear dynamics of confined cell migration
David's paper on the stochastic nonlinear dynamics of confined migrating cells is published in Nature Physics and is featured in News & Views and Nature Reviews Materials. It was also featured in the news! See also the LMU press release.
We're organizing a School on the Physics of Life this October.
Check out the website and sign up!
SMC Condensin: The Motor behind Bacterial Chromosome Organization?
Karsten's paper on how SMC condensins organize the bacterial chromosome has been accepted in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface!
Non-equilibrium dynamics of isostatic spring networks
Federico's and Benedikt's paper on active isostatic networks is up on the ArXive!
Non-equilibrium scaling behavior driven biological assembles
Federica's and Grześ' paper Phys. Rev. Lett. 121 (3), 038002 (2018) on non-equilibrium scaling behavior driven biological assembles is published in PRL!
Cells contract and stiffen their surrounding matrix
Yu Long and Pierre's paper on nonlinear mechanical interactions between cells and the matrix is published in PNAS. See also here.
Broken detailed balance and non-equilibrium dynamics in biological systems
Federico's, Federica's and Jannes' review has been published in Rep. Prog. Phys.,
link: Rep. Prog. Phys. 81, 066601 (2018)
Protein-DNA droplets in bacteria
We developed a new approach to describe protein-DNA droplets to provide insight into the chromosome segregation machinery. Read about it here and here.
Physical limits to biomechanical sensing
Farzan's paper on mechanosensation is published Nature Communications, and is featured in in the news.
Broken detailed balance at mesoscopic scales in active biological systems
Our paper on quantifying non-equilibrium dynamics in biological systems is published in Science!
Fiber networks amplify active stress
Pierre’s paper on stress amplification in fiber networks is published in PNAS, and is featured on the cover. Congrats Pierre!
Broken detailed balance reveals stress heterogeneity in active matter
Jannes’ paper on broken detailed balance in motor activated gels is published in PRL.
Read all about it here.
Research
Non-equilibrium physics of biological systems
Living matter is active: Many fundamental biological processes in cells operate far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Typically, these processes are inherently noisy. A central biophysical question is whether the stochastic dynamics of these systems are governed by thermal fluctuations or rather by active, non-equilibrium fluctuations. We develop theoretical methods to diagnose, quantify, and study non-equilibrium dynamics in noisy biological systems. This will help us elucidate how non-equilibrium dynamics manifests on different length and time scales in biological systems, and how this impacts their functional behavior.
Read more about this topic here.
Chromosome dynamics and organization in bacteria
The DNA is roughly a thousand fold longer than the bacteria in which it is contained. Naively, we would expect this DNA to be condensed into an amorphous, random condensed polymer with small thermal fluctuations. Recent experiments have refuted this picture. The bacterial chromosome is highly organized in the cell and can exhibit vigorous non-equilibrium dynamics. The spatial organization of the DNA is in part due to a large number of interacting proteins, which collectively structure the chromosome. We are developing a theory for the statistical mechanics of the bacterial chromosome to understand how its organization and dynamics impact biological function.
Read more about this topic here.
Marginal biological networks in and around cells
Biological assemblies constitute a prime example of soft condensed matter. For instance, networks of protein fibers govern the mechanics of cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix. Physically, what sets these networks apart is their disordered nature and weak connectivity, which is only barely enough for them to be mechanically stable. This marginal stability has striking implications for their physical properties, including critical behavior and extreme mechanical properties. We study the basic physics of marginal fiber networks and its implications for biology.
Read more about this topic here.