What are the fundamental principles that govern life? This question drives the research at the Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity. Being part of the University's strategic theme Life Sciences, we perform interdisciplinary research that combines biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics to understand living systems.
We study life at different organizational levels, from individual molecules, such as DNA, lipids and proteins, to cells and model organisms. By combining wet lab experiments with theory and simulation, we aim to achieve a systems level understanding of complex dynamic processes and their evolution.
Our interdisciplinary research
Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Biophysics
Gains insight into basic cellular processes and in this way to provide mechanistic basis for devising therapies for cancer, metabolic and neurological diseases.
Developmental Biology
Studies cellular processes in the context of living, developing multicellular organisms. Understanding at the organismal level is key to manipulating pathways to combat disease.
Genome Biology and Epigenetics
What defines the identity of a cell? How is the same genetic code used to build more than 200 different cell types with distinct physiological and morphological properties? These fundamental questions drive our enthusiasm for understanding how information processing is regulated at the level of chromatin modifications and DNA sequence.
Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics
We study simple caricatures of complex biological systems by mathematical modeling and computer simulation. Bioinformatics is the analysis of the large data sets that are nowadays created by modern biological experiments by clever computer algorithms.
