Biophysics & Complex systems

Macroscopic systems consisting of many interacting constituents often exhibit fascinating cooperative phenomena. The rules operating on a microscopic scale can often give rise to drastically different emergent rules on a macroscopic scale. In short, “more is different.” Examples in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts are ubiquitous in nature: flocking behaviors in birds, traffic flow patterns in a city, collective response of arrays of hair cells in mammalian auditory systems, evolutionary dynamics of microbial community, superconductivity in quantum materials, intelligence in artificial and biological neural networks, thermodynamics and quantum phase transitions in classical and quantum matters, to name a few. We are driven to explore and understand the physical principles behind emergent simplicity (or complexity) using experimental techniques from biology to neuroscience, as well as adopting theoretical and computational approaches to gain mechanistic insights into the nature of complexity in living and non-living matters. Our research often lies at the interface among biology, neuroscience, computer science, machine learning, many-body physics, and statistical physics.

Members: Yuttana Roongthumskul, Thiparat Chotibut, Panadda Dechadilok, Varagorn Hengpunya, Surachate Limkumnerd & Nakorn Phaisangittisakul

Research Unit: Chula Intelligent & Complex Systems (CHICS)