Physical Biosciences Division at Berkeley Lab

Our mission
Biology in the 21st century will be a quantitative and predictive science. We are now poised to return to the origins of scientific inquiry - natural philosophy - as the tools and concepts of physical science become applicable to the central concerns of biology. The mission of the Physical Biosciences Division is to provide the multidisciplinary intellectual backdrop and the physical resources to build the programs and tools that will make this vision a reality.

Building on the extraordinary advances in temporal and spatial resolution and breakthroughs in modern computational and theoretical science, the division's goal is to catalyze the development of biology as a quantitative, predictive science.

Some of our initiatives

Genomics:GTL program
Understanding how some microbes naturally reduce heavy metals many one day help scientists harness their abilities to clean up contaminated soil

Synthetic Biology
Taking a cue from nature, scientists hope to engineer environmentally friendly organisms to manufacture medicine and produce energy

Computational and Theoretical Biology
Researchers are harnessing computational tools to model and understand complex spatio-temporal interactions observed at the molecular level

Energy Production
Producing clean, abundant energy from solar and biological sources could change the way we live

Division leads initiative to make cellulosic ethanol

Somerville awarded Balzan Prize for plant genomics

New funding awards to boost BCSB high-throughput


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