Laboratory for the Physics of Life Thomas Gregor, Assistant Professor of Physics, Princeton University

Traditionally, biological questions have been investigated with qualitative techniques that allow for interpretation classically in the context of evolution. This qualitative approach, however, struggles to adequately describe the dynamic nature of most of the essential biological processes upon which evolution is acting. Recent advances in molecular biology, optical microscopy, nanoscopic physics and computer science have opened up new avenues for interpreting biological phenomena, combining high-precision measurement of biological processes with theoretical predictions and models that are bound by physical principles and formulated in mathematical language. This allows for models to be numerically tested and validated by experiments and, conversely, for experiments to be designed and guided by theoretical models. My laboratory uses such an approach to understand a biological system holistically, within a framework of fundamental physical principles that dictate and constrain biological phenomena.

Research in the lab is highly interdisciplinary. The interests and expertise of the lab’s members range from physics to biology to computer science to engineering; we use a combination of computational and experimental approaches. We build microscopes and microfluidic devices to measure the concentrations dynamics of proteins and signaling molecules; we use tools from molecular biology and genetics to manipulate the organisms we study; and we use image analysis and modeling to analyze our data. Researchers are encouraged to move freely between the different disciplines and to learn a variety of techniques according to their specific needs and interests. We primarily address questions concerning the development of fruit fly embryos and emergent collective behavior via cell signaling in social amoeba populations, but we are open to new ideas and collaborations addressing questions in other model systems.

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The laboratory is currently in the process to develop new in utero imaging techniques for early embryonic mouse development.

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Starting February 2009 I will join the Physics Department at Princeton as a new faculty member. I will also be associate faculty of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and of the Molecular Biology Department.

I will teach classes both for the Physics Department and for the Lewis-Sigler Institute. My research is highly interdisciplinary, and my hope is to work closely with students from many science departments across campus, mainly physics, biology, computer science, engineering and applied mathematics.

The research focus of the lab is at the interface of biological physics and systems biology. In particular, understanding embryonic development from the perspective of a physicist that views this highly complex process as a self-assembly problem: How do the different parts and ingredients that originate as a single cell work together to develop into a fully-functioning living animal?

This process of biological self-assembly I am also trying to tackle by looking at the emergence of collective behavior in starved amoebae populations. Here, originally autonomous amoebae display a survival strategy in the face of starvation that leads to a multi-cellular organism that produces spores. This system is very accessible experimentally to understand cell signaling, early stages of cell differentiation and pattern formation and the emergence of collective behavior that leads to multicellularity.

Our research will be mainly experimental, but with a strong theoretical influence, both within the lab and in close collaborations with theorists on campus and elsewhere. On the experimental side the goal is to watch life unfolds, i.e. in vivo measurements and manipulations. We build state-of-the-art microscopes and microfluidics devices, and we make heavy use of tools from molecular biology and genetics. On the theoretical side we design analytical and numerical models both to test and guide our experiments, and we take advantage of tools from computer science to analyze images and large data sets.

A new laboratory is under construction at the moment in 125 Jadwin Hall, the first floor of the physics building next to the stadium. My office will be located on the same floor.