biophysics papers | Gist.Science

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.

⚛️ biophysics

Physics-Grounded Evaluation to Guide Accurate Biomolecular Prediction

This paper presents a physics-grounded evaluation revealing that state-of-the-art protein structure prediction models, while capturing basic energetic principles, exhibit pervasive biases in atomic interactions and conformational preferences that limit their accuracy and generalizability, thereby highlighting the need for such frameworks to guide the development of next-generation models capable of reliable biomolecular function prediction.

Lyu, N., Du, S., Shao, Q., Yang, Z., Ma, J., Herschlag, D.2026-03-25

⚛️ biophysics

Both ATP and Mg2+ are Required for High-Affinity Binding of Indolmycin to Human Mitochondrial Tryptophanyl-tRNA Synthetase

This study reveals that human mitochondrial tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase requires both ATP and Mg2+ to achieve high-affinity indolmycin binding through a reinforced ground-state metal coordination mechanism that structurally and thermodynamically mimics bacterial enzymes, contrasting sharply with the binding properties of human cytoplasmic TrpRS.

carter, c. W.2026-03-25

⚛️ biophysics

Molecular mechanics of smooth muscle contraction and relaxation modulated by caldesmon

Using a laser-trap assay to resolve previous contradictions in tissue-level studies, this research demonstrates that caldesmon acts as a critical molecular regulator in smooth muscle by inhibiting force generation through competitive actomyosin binding and accelerating relaxation, thereby offering new insights into the pathophysiology of disorders like hypertension and asthma.

Schultz, M. L. C., Kachmar, L., Liu, C., Bai, A., Fletcher, S., Lauzon, A.-M.2026-03-25

⚛️ biophysics

CGRig: a rigid-body protein model with residue-level interaction sites for long-time and large-scale protein assembly simulation

The paper introduces CGRig, a rigid-body protein model that integrates residue-level interaction sites with overdamped Langevin dynamics to enable efficient, large-scale simulations of protein assembly while preserving essential structural specificity and achieving performance comparable to all-atom accuracy.

Teshirogi, Y., Terada, T.2026-03-24

⚛️ biophysics

A Novel Eukaryotic Ribosome Factor Enables Translation Restart Following Cellular Dormancy

This study identifies SNOR, a novel conserved ribosome-associated factor in *Schizosaccharomyces pombe* that represses protein synthesis by structurally blocking the ribosome during glucose-induced dormancy and is essential for translation restart upon stress relief.

Gluc, M., Rosa, H., Bozko, M., Turner, L. A., Prince, C. R., Peskova, Y., Feaga, H. A., Gould, K. L., Mattei, S., Jomaa (…)2026-03-24

⚛️ biophysics

Investigator-blind discovery of structural elements controlling GPCR function

The authors developed an investigator-blind, unsupervised analysis pipeline for molecular dynamics data that successfully identified both known functional microswitches and two novel structural motifs (a kink in transmembrane helix 2 and a coupled piston-like motion of TM2 and TM3) controlling GPCR function.

Ji, J., Lyman, E.2026-03-24

⚛️ biophysics

Mutational Robustness Predicts Protein Dynamics Across Natural and Designed Proteins

This study demonstrates that a per-residue mutational robustness index, derived from the stability variance of single-amino-acid substitutions, effectively predicts protein dynamics across both natural and de novo designed proteins, offering a biophysically grounded complement to structural confidence scores like pLDDT.

Zuk, O.2026-03-23

⚛️ biophysics

Cell Cycle-Dependent Chromatin Motion: A Role for DNA Content Doubling Over Cohesion

By combining high-resolution tracking, genetic experiments, and polymer modeling, this study reveals that the gradual decrease in chromatin motion during the cell cycle is driven globally by DNA content doubling rather than cohesin-mediated sister chromatid entrapment.

Rey-Millet, M., Costes, L., Le-Floch, E., Ayoub, H., Saccomani, Q., Manghi, M., Bystricky, K.2026-03-21

⚛️ biophysics

Phase diagrams for biophysical fitness landscape design

This paper establishes an explicit analytical theory for fitness landscape design (FLD) and validates it against a large-scale experimental dataset of antibody-antigen binding affinities, demonstrating the feasibility of engineering quantitatively programmable biophysical fitness landscapes for protein evolution.

Mohanty, V., Shakhnovich, E.2026-03-20

⚛️ biophysics

Open Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy (OpenFPM)

The paper introduces OpenFPM, an open-source, low-cost Fourier ptychographic microscopy platform built with 3D-printed components and controlled via a Raspberry Pi, which successfully achieves high-resolution amplitude and phase imaging over a 1 mm field-of-view to make advanced LED-array microscopy accessible for biomedical research.

Walker, L. D., Copeland, L., Rooney, L. M., Bendkowski, C., Shaw, M. J., McConnell, G.2026-03-20

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