Shedding light on life

Physicists are taking interest in studying mysterious mechanism of life and are using optical and technical techniques for their studies. Jennifer Curtis of the University of Heidelberg in Germany and co-workers are using optical manipulation techniques to explore the particular matrix (PCM) that surrounds all mammalian cells. Researchers are also exploring the physics of gene expression, as genes provide the blueprint for living organisms. A group of theorists led by Rob Phillips of the California Institute of Technology has developed a quantitative model for gene regulation that aims to calculate the effect of changing the cell conditions on the quantity of proteins produced.