NSF funds new 'Center for the Physics of Living Cells' at Illinois

Ha and Schulten believe the new center will attract the best young researchers in the field. They are already recruiting six new post-doctoral fellows to join the effort. The recruits will work with 12 center members, including physics professors Paul Selvin, Nigel Goldenfeld, Yann Chemla, Ido Golding, Aleksei Aksimentiev and Karin Dahmen along with chemistry professors Zaida Luthey-Schulten and Martin Gruebele, biochemistry professor Stephen Sligar and electrical and computer engineering professor Gregory Timp.

"Biological physics is considered an important frontier field and the students and post-docs need to be prepared for it," Schulten said.

The center also will offer faculty and students at other institutions training in emerging biophysics approaches.

"It's very hard to pick up the new technology just from reading papers," Ha said. "We'll teach them step by step how to set up their own measurements."

Ha and Selvin already have edited a basic laboratory textbook on single molecule experiments, and next summer the center will offer a 10-day workshop on the subject for students and post-doctoral researchers from other institutions who are working in the field.

The diversity of biophysics expertise at Illinois has made it a resource, not only for its own researchers, but also for the larger community of physicists and biologists hoping to advance the field, Ha said.

"Our center will be a one-stop shop for the most challenging biological problems of the day," he said.

"The mission of the Physics Frontiers Centers is to advance the frontier across fields of physics as diverse as quantum optics and the physics of living cells," said Joe Dehmer, director of the National Science Foundation's Division of Physics. "Another significant impact PFCs have is to be a talent magnet for students, post-docs, and other excited young physicists. Promising young talent and new advances can be expected, and we look forward to both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign."

The National Science Foundation award is jointly funded by the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) as part of a partnership to foster research and education at the mathematical and physical sciences/life sciences interface. Participating programs in MPS include the Physics Frontiers Centers program, the Experimental Physical Chemistry program and the Analytical and Surface Chemistry program. Participating programs in BIO include the Biomolecular Systems cluster, the Genes and Genomes cluster and the Neural Systems cluster.

Editor's note: To reach Taekjip Ha, call: 217-265-0717; e-mail: .

To reach Klaus Schulten, 217-244-1604; .

NSF contact: Lisa-Joy Zgorski, media officer; 703-292-8311; .