388 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 paper presents a bottom-up methodological framework using high-speed SlimVar microscopy and quantum dot probes to quantitatively measure molecular transport within defined minimal biofilm mimics, establishing a modular workflow that overcomes the optical and analytical challenges of tracking particles in complex native biofilm environments.
This study reveals that the hearing-essential intracellular domain of PCDH15 CD2 is an intrinsically disordered, expanded acidic polyampholyte with biophysical properties suggesting it functions as a mechanically responsive structural element that may contribute to force transmission and adaptation in auditory mechanotransduction.
This single-molecule force spectroscopy study reveals that the Rossmann2x2 fold protein (Ross) reaches its native structure through a strict, reversible pathway where discrete cooperative folding units (foldons) assemble sequentially, starting with an autonomously folding primary unit that guides the subsequent organization of dependent secondary units.
This paper introduces 2P-RESOLFT microscopy, a technique utilizing two-photon-driven excitation and reversible photoswitching to achieve 205-nm super-resolution imaging deep within tissue, successfully revealing previously unobserved membrane protrusions in pancreatic pseudoislets.
This paper introduces the 2026 Community-Wide Assessment of Heterogeneous Reconstruction Algorithms (CAHRA), a challenge designed to evaluate cryo-EM heterogeneity analysis methods using three novel benchmark datasets that address compositional heterogeneity, continuous conformational variability, and pose-conformation entanglement.
This study reveals that acyl chain chemistry (length and saturation) in lipid membranes regulates biophysical properties like packing, fluidity, and surface charge, thereby governing the selective interactions with DNA nanoprobes and coacervates to provide a mechanistic framework for engineering membrane-biomolecule interfaces.
This paper introduces a Dynamic Reference Frame (DRF) within an off-lattice cell-centre model to simulate subcellular remodelling in epithelial monolayers, enabling the reproduction of multiscale mechanical responses and the analysis of how deformation history influences tissue recovery.
Despite sharing a nearly identical fold and average backbone flexibility, the cytokine IL-1β and its antagonist IL-1Ra exhibit distinct functional roles because the agonist's receptor-binding interface possesses anomalously high local mobility, demonstrating that the spatial distribution of conformational entropy, rather than its total amount, dictates allosteric regulation and biological outcome.
This study utilizes cryo-EM to resolve the structures of both unliganded and ligand-bound CYP3A4, revealing that structural plasticity in the F/G loop and ligand promiscuity underlie the enzyme's ability to accommodate diverse drugs and explain the limitations of current predictive models.
This study combines experimental measurements with a hydrodynamic phase-field model to demonstrate that surface tension and stalk-tip elongation drive the dewetting process responsible for the morphogenesis and substrate detachment of *Dictyostelium* fruiting bodies.