Part of Experimental Biophysics Lab

The lab is part of the BioComplexity section and the Exp Biophys Lab and is placed at the beautiful Niels Bohr institute at Blegdamsvej in Copenhagen.

The diversity of the microbial world arises in complex interplay between growth, cell-cell interactions, evolvement, and motility. To understand this, we seek to make mechanical models of population-level phenomena as spatio-genetic patterning in large cell communities.

We use a multitude of imaging modalities, e.g., confocal scanning and light-sheet microscopy, in combination with measurements of force exertion, and in close collaboration with theoretical physicists, as well as biologists and geologists.

Our research topics extend from biofilm formation to cancer spreading patterns, with a focus on the biophysical aspects of intra-cellular interactions and motility and how they regulate evolutionary dynamics, and vice versa.

HOW SELF-ORGANIZATION PROMOTES HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER

Funding: DFF Research Leader Sapere Aude grant (2020-2024), DFF Inge Lehmann grant (2020-2024), and EMBO short-term scholarship.

Collaborators: Sara Mitri (Unil), Namiko Mitarai (NBI), Stanley Brown (NBI).

Postdoc: Open position.

Bacterial biofilms are ubiquitous and associated with quorum sensing, cooperativity, and resistance. Within biofilms, genetic information is exchanged among species from even distantly related taxonomic groups through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). This recombination is promiscuous and ensures that bacteria adjust rapidly to new environmental conditions. Many studies on HGT have focused either on single species or on large-scale genomic analyses. However, research on HGT associated with biofilm and colony-formation that contain a defined group of species in a more natural, yet controlled setting is still extremely rare. Without such research, it is impossible to fully understand the involved mechanisms of HGT in natural multi-species colonies. 

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NEW IMAGING MODALITIES FOR PLANT CELL WALL RESEARCH

Funding: DNRF Chair grant.

Collaborators: Staffan Person (PLEN, KU) and Pól Martin Bendix (NBI).

Postdocs: Guillermo Moreno Pescador and Samira Ebrahimi.

This cross-disciplinary initiative combines research strengths in optics, biophysics and biology in aim of constructing new versatile custom-made microscopes. E.g., different super-

resolution and fluorescence set-ups, in combination with biophysical tools to address

questions in plant cell and cell wall biology.

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CANCER CELL MOTILITY

Collaborators: Emma Hammarlund and Veneta Valerieva Gerganova (Lund University)

Therapy resistance in cancer is often linked to the infiltration into the surrounding tissue. For instance, when a subpopulation of tumor cells switches to a migrating phenotype and start collective or individual migration away from the main tumor. This is most often associated with the gain of stem-like properties and the ability to withstand therapy and cause sub-sequent recurrence. In aim of unraveling the strategies of motility, we do dynamic imaging to map trajectories of individual cells in 3D matrices.

HOW MINERAL-ASSOCIATED BIOFILMS PROMOTE HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER

Collaborators: Karina Sand (GLOBE)

This cross-disciplinary initiative combines research strengths in biophysics, geology and microbiology in aim of unraveling the role of horizontal gene-transfer (HGT) in the spread of multi-resistance genes in the environment.

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Joining Exp Biophys Lab as a student

The Niels Bohr institute has many M.Sc. and PhD students. The students are closely attached to the research groups and supervisor and have many social activities for International and Danish students.

If you are interested in studying Biophysics, consider looking at these pages:

• M.Sc. in Physics, study track in Biophysics.
• General information about the education, application, living in Denmark etc.

Joining Exp Biophys Lab with an external grant

We support researchers' applications to international and Danish public and private funding agencies.

If you come with your own funding, you will become a full member of the team with office space, access to IT and admin support, laboratories, and you are expected to contribute to the scientific and social life in the group. Examples of agencies funding research in biophysics in Denmark are Denmarks Independent Research Fund, Villum Foundation, Carlsberg Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Contact us at least 8 weeks in advance of the application deadline in the case of individual post doc stipends and smaller projects (i.e., 1-3 years, under DKK 3M). And at. least 3 months in advance of the application deadline in the case of larger projects.

The sections's faculty will review your request and assess your need for equipment, to ensure that the Institute can adequately house your project and the expected personnel associated with it.

If approved, we can provide considerable support for the application process, for example including budget development, text about the host institution, review of application's science case, and contact with the funding agency if needed.  The Faculty of Science Research Funding Office at the University of Copenhagen also provides support for applications. 

An application budget is developed online using the University's application tool and must be approved by the group leader and the Niels Bohr Institute at least one month before the application deadline.  The budget process also facilitates the conversation about possible co-financing from the Institute or Center, laboratory set-up if needed, and any HR issues that need to be addressed.

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Liselotte Jauffred, Research Leader

Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 København Ø

Building K, office Ka4
E-mail jauffred [at] nbi.dk
Phone +45 25721532