Matthias Schneider
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Munich
phone: (617) 353-3951
email: mfs@bu.edu
office: 110 Cummington Street, ENG 301
Research Interests
Biological physics: thermodynamics of interfaces; physics of nerves and senses; cell adaptation. Nanotechnology for life science: Surface acoustic waves; microfluidics; blood clotting
The research of Matthias Schneider’s group is motivated by a physical understanding of biological processes. Physical concepts (thermodynamics) as well as new nanotechnologies (surface acoustic waves) are used to unravel the fundamental principles of nerve communication and blood clotting. The goal is to untangle the complexity of biological processes and find a unified explanation or law of seemingly independent phenomena in nature, to finally see the forest and not the trees.
Current Projects
- Acoustics of our nervous system – a physical model for nerve pulse propagation, senses and the brain using planar electrodes.
- fluctuations and “soft” nanopores for transport across “soft” interfaces
- Cell adaptation. How do cells sense their environment?
- Surface acoustic waves driven microfluidics to mimic blood flow in complex geometries
- Thrombosis and Cancer. A unified explanation?