Future plans

Our initial Physics of Life funding from EPSRC/BBSRC Network Plus has helped build a strong, interdisciplinary Biological Physics community.  We have applied for, and won, further EPSRC and BBSRC funding to take the commnuity forward with an extended network of partners.
We envisage a second phase of the network that takes the community on towards active research programmes, new topics, and continues growing interdisciplinary connections in a sustainable way.  PoLNet2 will not simply continue the methodology of the first network, but recognises that the environment is now different and ready for a new phase of activity. It constitutes an efficient way to realise the initial recommended actions of the ‘Roadmap for the Physics of Life’ and has 6 objectives and associated activities:

PoLNet2 Objectives

  1. Develop the research questions from PoLNet1 into active research programmes
  2. Continue to create a pipeline of new PoL research challenges
  3. Move to a sustainable UK PoL community by working very closely with British Biophysical Society (BBS) and the IoP  Biological Physics Group (BPG), and partner universities
  4. Grow the community of biologists who engage with the PoL community, its activities (the role of BBSRC is crucial here, as is the Crick Institute) and subsequent research programmes, working jointly with EPSRC and BBSRC and other funders to address wherever possible the highlighted topics of BBSRC with the collaborative science of EPSRC.
  5. Extend the Network by research partnerships with the relevant industrial sector (through a series of industry-oriented workshops) building on IoP and BBS links.
  6. Deliver a resource of pedagogical material for PoL, online and through graduate schools
In order to create a pipeline of new PoL research challenges, we are proposing a number of new topics for PoLNet2 workshops:

Proposed topics for new PoLNet2 workshops

Plant growth mechanics and signalling    
New horizons in bioimaging
The physics of epigenetics    
Bioenergy in processing of biological waste
Control of cell shape, size, in eukaryotes    
Evolution and statistical mechanics
Engineering biomimetic machines    
Phase-separation/transition in biological systems
Quantum biology     
Protocells
Biophysics of ageing    
Novel strategies in drug discovery and biologics

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