Reinemann awarded NSF CAREER
Molecular Biophysics and Engineering Lab
Molecular Biophysics sits at the crossroads of biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering — and is rapidly transforming how we understand life. Our lab focuses on the cytoskeletal machinery of the cell, aiming to uncover how molecular components work together to drive essential cellular processes.
Understanding the Engineering Rules of Life
Cells are nature’s engineering marvels!
Unlike everyday buildings, a cell’s “skeleton” is built from dynamic, soft components whose collective behavior gives rise to emergent mechanics that can’t be predicted from the properties of individual parts.
By probing these systems, we aim to decipher the blueprints that guide cytoskeletal machinery.
Team
Who we are
Our team consists of talented postdoctoral research associates, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Learn more about them in the link below.
Research
What we do
We study how motor proteins, crosslinkers, and cytoskeletal filaments coordinate to perform complex tasks like cell division, movement, and muscle contraction. By combining cutting-edge biophysical tools, including optical trapping, fluorescence microscopy, and QCM-D, we explore how these molecular interactions scale up to support the functions of living systems. This foundational knowledge helps reveal the fundamental design principles that govern living systems, offering insight into the rules of life from the molecular to cellular scale.
Read more about specific projects in the Research and Publication tabs.
