biophysicist

A biophysicist is a scientist who applies the principles and methods of physics to biological systems. The aim is to understand how biological structure and dynamics arise from physical properties such as forces, energies, and transport processes, often at the molecular or cellular level. Biophysicists combine experimental measurements with mathematical modeling and computations to quantify phenomena and to test hypotheses about how living systems work.

Common research areas include structural biophysics, biophysics of membranes, molecular biophysics, mechanobiology, and biophysical imaging. Typical tools and techniques span X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy, single-molecule methods, optical trapping, patch-clamp electrophysiology, atomic force microscopy, and small- and wide-angle scattering. Computational methods such as molecular dynamics simulations, quantum calculations for small systems, and statistical modeling are used to analyze data and to predict behavior.

Biophysicists work in universities, national laboratories, and industry, often collaborating with biologists, chemists, engineers, and computer scientists. Education commonly includes an undergraduate degree in physics, chemistry, or biology followed by graduate study in biophysics or a related field. The work supports fundamental understanding of biomolecular mechanisms and has applications in drug discovery, imaging, diagnostics, and the development of biomaterials.