Primary research goal is the identification and characterisation of the mechanisms of mechanobiology controlling the immune response in health and disease. Our objectives involve the application and development of novel ultrasensitive live-cell microscopy techniques with the right spatiotemporal sensitivity as demanded by the biology. Long-term goal of our research is the translation of our expertise and methodologies in mechanobiology to mechanomedicine in diagnostics and treatment of patients.
Biophysics, mechanobiology, and biology in health and disease
Biomedical sciences increasingly recognise the importance of biophysics in health and disease. For the most part, this is due to an emerging new perspective of the broad impact of mechanobiology on the human immune response. While most mechanisms of the immune response are adequately explained by cell-biology, biochemistry, and genetics, many of its features profoundly depend on biomechanical aspects.
The Biophysical Immunology (BPI) laboratory aims to unravel the impact of these mechanobiological aspect on the human immune system in health and disease. We are especially interested in the understanding of the significance of a vital cellular cytoskeleton, the primary determinant of immune cell biophysics.
Having expertise across multiple disciplines from theoretical-physics to immunology, the BPI group is determined to investigate contentious biomedical research. For our quantitative approach we establish and apply new advanced technology with the biology-demanded sensitivity.
The Biophysical Immunology (BPI) group led by Dr Marco Fritzsche is located at the Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology (KIR) at the University of Oxford and the Rosalind Franklin Institute in the UK. We also support a research lab within the MRC Human Immunology Unit (HIU) at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (WIMM), UK.
Further information and ongoing research projects are available on our group webpage.
Our team
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Veronika Pfannenstill
DPhil student
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Kseniya Korobchevskaya
Microscopy Staff Scientist
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Falk Schneider
Postdoc Researcher in plasma membrane dynamics and super-resolution microscopy
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Liliana Barbieri
PhD student
Principal Investigator
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Marco Fritzsche
Associate Professor and Rosalind Franklin Kennedy Trust Research Fellow
