Biophysics

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of Condensed Matter, I would like to invite papers for consideration in a Special Issue dedicated to “Biophysics”, which covers the physical principles underpining subjects as diverse as the origins of life, evolutionary processes, emergence of biological structure and function and the origins of disease and its mitigation.

Despite decades of focused research, consensus on the theoretical principles, which underpin self-organization and the emergence of structure and function in living systems remains elusive. This is primarily due to the diverse, complex and dynamic range of processes, which consitute biological systems at a wide range of scales. We should in theory be able to describe these different processes and their interactions, in terms of pure physical processes. However, the enormous levels of complexity found in even the simplest organism leads to a commonly held view that the systems may be too complex to deconstruct to individual component processes. New ideas and approaches are required to challenge this position.

Recent research is beginning to offer new insights into the physics of biological processes, indicating that they may be controlled via macroscopic quantum-like processes, analogous to that found in coherent random lasing and high temperature superconductivity. These ideas need to be rigorously tested and, if confirmed, will redefine our understanding of quantum biology.

One of the objectives of Condensed Matter is to create a new platform which supports research into new ideas and emerging trends in biophysics. The aim of this Special Issue is to kick start this involvement, considering review papers, alongside original papers in theoretical and experimental biophysics and related research in condensed matter. Just a few examples include:

• The role of the genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabalome and fluxome in defining the physical environment that leads to the emergence of structure and function in biological systems.
• Analysis and deconstruction of the many complex processes involved in living systems to basic physical processes.
• Chaos theory and/or non-linear systems and their role in the emergence of long range order and coherent behavior in biological systems such as photosynthesis, neurone function and the origins and mitigation of neurodegenerative disease.
• Theoretical and experimental work on model systems with the potential to simplify our understanding of basic processes, which may lead to new, bioinspired materials and quantum technologies.

Sincerely yours,

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Condensed Matter is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• biophysics
• quantum biology
• chaos
• non-linear systems
• emergence
• long-range coherence