Physics of Living Systems

The program “Physics of Living Systems” (PoLS) at the National Science Foundation evolved from the successful Biological Physics program, which supported projects that applied analytical and experimental tools of physics to the study of biological problems at the molecular level. PoLS is replacing the Biological Physics program and will target theoretical and experimental research exploring the most fundamental biological processes that living systems utilize to perform their functions in dynamic and diverse environments. PoLS will stimulate those investigations that have the potential to transform the study of living systems.PoLS will encourage research that will emphasize the physical principles of organization and function of living systems, including the exploration of artificial life forms. While the problems under study must be important to advancing our understanding of the living world in a quantitative way, particular emphasis will be placed on those projects in which lessons learned from the biological application also expand the intellectual range of physics. Awards will cover a broad spectrum of physics approaches in biology, ranging from the physical principles and mechanisms at the single cell level such as cellular organization (e.g. cytoskeleton), energy metabolism, gene regulation and intracellular and intercellular communication, to collective behavior and evolution of complexity in life forms and living populations of organisms. This systems approach in physics has been very successful in understanding inanimate systems, and has the potential to bring deep understanding of the world of animated, replicating systems, through falsifiable phenomenological theories. In vitro systems, if necessary for understanding of the physical principles in a living organism, will be supported as well. The program funds individual investigators, although collaborative proposals between physicists and biological researchers are welcome.