Research

Research in the Biological Physics Theory Unit is organized to seek deep understanding of animal behavior through a combination of quantitative measurements, theory and modeling, and biological insight. We draw and develop experience within the unit and through collaborative partners, at OIST and internationally. In our recent work we have sharpened our theoretical and modeling focus through a series of approaches aimed at a principled understanding of posture dynamics (Costa et al 2019, Ahamed et al 2021), and developed experimental and tracking techniques (Bozek et al 2021, Hebert et al 2021, Nguyen et al 2021) that open unparalleled opportunities for high- resolution behavioral analysis, from single organisms to small groups, to collectives. In the future we seek to solidify our understanding of single-animal movement and increasingly explore more complex organisms and social situations. In doing so we will ultimately approach questions traditionally associated with our own human experience, but from a novel direction: one rooted in a complete quantitative language which embraces natural behavior, strives to be free of constraining assumptions and attempts to infer rather than postulate the behavioral strategies employed.