The PoL approach is to embrace biology in its complexity, while simultaneously understanding living systems as a physical process. Research at PoL focuses on fundamental biological questions in cell and developmental biology for which physical insights can lead to conceptual breakthroughs. Through a unique environment in which international and interdisciplinary researchers seamlessly integrate experiments, theory and computation, PoL scientists strives towards one common goal: to understand what brings matter to life.

During the initial funding phase, PoL expanded the relation between physics and biology by identifying physical principles that underlie living systems. For example, the discoveries that nuclear jamming transitions govern tissue organization, capillary forces and pre-wetting transitions organize chromatin structure, and that some proteins form DNA condensates to repair DNA damage. Many of these discoveries were further enabled by techniques developed by PoL researchers, who have pioneered innovative measurement methodologies to characterize the physical state of living matter. Key examples are the development of microdroplet techniques to measure mechanics inside intact living tissues, and the development of calorimetric and fluorescence techniques to characterize metabolic rates and energy flows.

A key focus of the next funding phase will be to connect physics principles to two signature features of living systems, function and robustness. To this end, PoL scientists will investigate the emergence of robust functional structures through flows of matter, energy and information. In addition, PoL researchers will develop new measurement techniques, to remove existing roadblocks towards a physical characterization of intact living systems, and employ topological data analysis and machine learning approaches to extract essential information from complex and high-dimensional datasets. This will transform our understanding of cell and developmental biology and unravel new paradigms for understanding the physical basis of life.