Biopolymers (flexible rods), biomembranes (fluid sheets like soap bubbles), and biomolecular bonds are the Lego blocks of cells, used repeatedly inside cells to build a variety of nanometer-sized machines that help perform functions, like allowing cells to divide, crawl, organize their interiors, sense their environment and communicate with other cells.

The mission of our research group is to make rigorous, relevant and elegant contributions to the scientific knowledge of humanity. We use computational, mathematical and biophysical approaches to figure out how living cells use force, space and time in their problem-solving strategies. We work so that the basic science discoveries we make become part of the worldwide, multi-generational tapestry of scientific knowledge that benefits all.

The biological functions we work on include how immune cells read antigen and process information signals using immuno-receptors, how the cell’s internal skeleton is built using formins, how cells in tissues communicate at long distance using airinemes.