329 papers
Biophysics sits at the fascinating intersection where the laws of physics meet the complexity of living systems. This field uses tools like light, electricity, and mechanical forces to decode how cells move, how proteins fold, and how our senses translate the world around us. Rather than just observing biology, biophysicists measure and model life to understand the fundamental machinery that powers every organism.
On Gist.Science, we make these discoveries accessible by curating the latest preprints directly from bioRxiv. Our team processes every new submission in this category, providing both clear, plain-language overviews and detailed technical summaries so readers of all backgrounds can grasp the cutting-edge science. Below are the most recent biophysics papers from bioRxiv, ready for you to explore.
This study demonstrates that the plasma membrane is organized into distinct protein-rich and protein-poor domains driven by the differential partitioning of specific proteins and lipids, a structural heterogeneity that persists in isolated vesicles and likely facilitates the segregation of various cellular processes.
This study utilizes 19F ultrafast MAS NMR on 5-fluorotryptophan-labelled proteorhodopsin to reveal how the dynamic ring flipping of residues W34 and W98 regulates proton transport and the photocycle in a pH-dependent manner, while demonstrating a robust framework for characterizing membrane protein dynamics in native-like lipid environments.
Using low-field, high-gradient diffusion exchange spectroscopy (DEXSY) on neonatal mouse spinal cords, this study demonstrates that steady-state water exchange in neural tissue is primarily a passive process occurring through the phospholipid bilayer and geometric intracellular pathways, rather than via active transport or ion channels.
By combining mobility-resolved solid-state NMR with genetic perturbations of glucan synthases, this study demonstrates that these enzymes govern the supramolecular architecture and dynamic organization of the *Schizosaccharomyces pombe* cell wall, revealing that molecular mobility serves as a sensitive signature of structural assembly beyond simple chemical composition.
This study reveals that anionic lipids are essential for recruiting Phospholipase C-{beta} to the plasma membrane through electrostatic interactions, acting as a critical regulatory input that integrates membrane composition with G protein signaling to control enzyme activity.
This study demonstrates that the specific binding of HIV-1 Gag to the Psi RNA packaging signal, in conjunction with the host co-factor IP6, drives a critical conformational shift from a compact to an extended state essential for immature viral particle assembly.
This study demonstrates that sequence charge decoration weighted by chain length (SCD × N) serves as a dominant, interpretable coordinate for organizing the salt response regimes of intrinsically disordered proteins, enabling accurate prediction of conformational changes through machine learning models trained on extensive CALVADOS-2 simulation data.
This study quantitatively compares the Lateral Average and Sphere of Influence vascular coupling models, revealing that while both may yield similar total organ flow under specific conditions, they diverge significantly in predicting regional perfusion, thereby necessitating careful model selection based on whether the research goal is global hemodynamics or local drug delivery.
This phantom study demonstrates that at 3T, combining Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) for detecting hydroxyapatite and R2* mapping for detecting calcium oxalate enables the differentiation of benign and malignancy-associated breast microcalcifications from a single multi-echo acquisition.
Using optical coherence tomography and mathematical modeling, this study reveals that the tokay gecko's basilar papilla exhibits untuned rotational motion driven by anatomical asymmetry, indicating that frequency selectivity arises primarily from hair-bundle-level mechanics rather than tissue-scale vibrations.