How does human body surface area scale with size? Using 3D laser scanning and DXA in 106 adults, we found BSA scales linearly with height and mass. No power laws needed, and lean/fat/bone breakdowns don’t really improve predictions. journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....

In February, I had the great pleasure of giving a talk at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine about our work on modeling human physiology to improve patient treatment. A fabulous visit and many great questions from the audience. gimm.pt/news/modelin...

It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social Read our tribute to the visionary Nobel Laureate and watch an interview from 2012, just after he won: https://bit.ly/4mM8o3r

🚨Job alert in theory/math devbio 🚨 I’m currently advertising postdoc positions to join my group. We’re building reaction-diffusion models to understand some of the crazy things embryos can do. We are based in a beautiful part of Scotland :). Please share! www.abdnjobs.co.uk/vacancy/rese...

I am thrilled and honored that—alongside my work as a researcher in industry—I have been appointed Adjunct Professor at @penningtonbiomed.bsky.social. I will be working with Dr Steven Heymsfield and Dr Peter Kotanko in the area of human body composition and metabolism.

New preprint: How do cells measure time? In human development, pluripotent epiblast cells pause for about two weeks before differentiating into more specialised cell types. We show that this timing is controlled by a transcriptional clock that works like an hourglass. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A transcriptional clock of the human pluripotency transition

Developmental timing differs strikingly between mammals. All embryonic and some placental lineages emerge from the pluripotent epiblast in a temporally defined sequence, lasting about two weeks in the...

biorxiv.org

Saddened to hear Bela Novak has died Pioneering and influential systems/quant biologist. Changed how we think about the cell cycle (amongst other things). www.merton.ox.ac.uk/news/remembe...

Remembering Professor Béla Novák 1956 - 2025

With great sadness, we announce the loss of Professor Béla Novák.

merton.ox.ac.uk

This could have been written by a physicist.

🚨🚨Please repost!! 📢📢 Following last year’s success, International workshop Physics of Biological Systems is back in May! Free registration! Submit talk or poster abstract. Join us in Edinburgh @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social bit.ly/EdinPBS2025

New preprint: are deep neural networks just complicated curve fitters or can they show emergent behavior that is independent of the data? We show that training deep neural networks gives rise to emergent weight morphologies independent of the training data. arxiv.org/abs/2501.05550

I'm always amazed by hallmarks of universality in social systems. This linked paper by Pal et al. shows how a minimal model of random voting behavior can reproduce margin distributions across many countries. They suggest that deviations from this universality might hint at electoral malpractices.

Interspecies scaling laws (allometries) are a fascinating phenomenon. Here we investigate allometric scaling relationships of quantitative cardiomyocyte properties across different mammalian species. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... (w/ Tanja Kloock and Christian Mühlfeld)

Starting a theoretical biophysics starter pack, feel free to (self-) nominate, I’ll keep updating this in the next days/weeks! go.bsky.app/RMF7jUK

We’re looking to hire a theoretical #biological #physicist at either the Assistant or Associate professor level. The post closes soon, so please spread the word. #Toronto is a great place to live and work. jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-... jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...

If you run your own domain, you can change the handle of your Bluesky account to your domain name. This provides a bit of an identity verification. See here: bsky.social/about/blog/4... Note that I am not an IT security expert and can't speak to any security issues that might arise from this.

Teaching statistical physics this term. If things get difficult, we get help from super heroes like Mr T (who can relate macroscopic variables) or S-man (who can derive them micrscopically). There is also a villain called Boltz-man who has the habit of creating super-large numbers.

In this collaboration with Ben Simons' and Shosei Yoshida's lab, we propose a minimal mechanism for the intricate spatiotemporal dynamics of the spermatogenic wave. Congratulations to Toshiyuki Sato (experiment) and Yuting I. Li (theory) for their outstanding work! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...