Thursday September 25th, 2025: Thesis defense of Ellen Juel Pørtner
Ellen Juel Pørtner, from the group of Adam Cohen Simonsen, will defend her PhD thesis on Thursday September 25th.
As part of the defense, Ellen will give a lecture titled "AFM Studies of Nuclear Mechanics and Protein-Membrane Interactions."
The defense will take place in the CP3 meeting room at 1 pm.
Friday September 26th, 2025: Biophysics Seminar in Lykeion at 13.00
On Friday September 26th, Marta Bally from Umeå University will give a guest seminar at PhyLife. See details below.
Marta Bally, Associate Professor
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine & Umeå Centre for Microbial Research, Umeå University, Sweden
Title: Studying the dynamics of virus interactions in the glycocalyx and at the cell surface.
Time: September 26, 2025 , kl 13:15
Place: Lykeion (PhyLife)
Abstract: The initial recruitment of a virus particle to the cell surface requires diffusion of the virus particle through the glycocalyx, the sugar coat covering cells, to reach the cell membrane where it may further diffuse laterally in search of a suitable point of entry. This complex and dynamic process is mediated by a multitude of well-timed biomolecular interactions which act in concert to optimize entry. In this context, the affinity of the interaction between individual ligands and receptor, as well as the number of bonds established between the virus particle and the cell surface, is likely key in fine-tuning the dynamic characteristics of the virus at the cell surface.
In our work, we study the molecular mechanisms modulating virus attachment, detachment and diffusion at the cell surface and in the glycocalyx to ensure optimal entry. We primarily focus on viruses interacting with heparan sulfate, a chemically heterogeneous polysaccharide abundantly found on most cells. Our experimental approach is based on probing interactions between individual virus particles and the cell surface using both cell-surface mimics of controlled biomolecular composition, and live cell microscopy. Single particle tracking and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy are used to study the interaction kinetics and diffusion of individual viruses. Complementary atomic force microscopy-based single molecule force spectroscopy contributes to studying individual ligand-receptor interactions involved in the process.
Taken together, our research contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms regulating the interaction between a virus and the surface of its host. Such insights will without doubt facilitate the design of more efficient antiviral therapies.
Friday September 12th, 2025: Thesis defense of Luise Jacobsen
Luise Jacobsen, from the group of Himanshu Khandelia, will defend her PhD thesis on Friday September 12th.
As part of the defense, Luise will give a lecture titled "Investigating Uncoupling Protein 1 Mechanisms Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations."
The talk will take place in U27 at 1 pm.
Monday September 8th, 2025: PhyLife Seminar in Lykeion
The First PhyLife seminar in the fall semester will take place Monday Sept 8th at 11-12 in Lykeion
Speakers are as follow:
Ellen Juel Pørtner (Supervisor Adam C Simonsen) - Effects of p95HER2 Expression in Breast Cancer Cells
Luise Jakobsen (Supervisor Himanshu Khandelia) - A Novel Model for Proton Transport Mediated by Uncoupling Protein 1
Friday August 29th, 2025: Guest Speaker in Lykeion at 13.00
On Friday the 29th of August, PhD student Marcos Cervantes of Uppsala University will be visiting Phylife, and give a talk on the topic of his PhD.
Title: The functional role of receptor and membrane organization in enveloped viral entry.
The talk will be at 13:00, in Lykeion.
Monday August 18th, 2025: Midway Evaluation of Lau Blom Grøndahl
Lau Blom Grøndahl, from the group of Carsten Svaneborg, will have his midway evaluation on Monday Agust 18th. The presentation will take place in Lykeion at 13.00.
Title: Development of Mesoscopic Models of Polymer Materials
Description: This project aims to develop physics-based mesoscale models of elastomer networks, derived directly from coarse-grained Kremer–Grest simulations. A central component is the implementation of an improved primitive path analysis methodology, enabling accurate characterization of entanglement structure and dynamics. The ultimate objective is to establish a fast and predictive simulation framework that links molecular-scale structure to the macroscopic mechanical properties of elastomer materials.
PhyLife Student Talks on May 5th - 2025
On May 5th, our students presented their projects during our annual Flash Talk Seminar. A big thank you to all the participants for sharing their exciting research and insights. The list of presenters can be found below.
- Husam Ataba, Munir Sayel, and Aghyad (Ariad) Abdalhffiz (Brewer group) Pharmacy masters.
Develop and optimize methods for transdermal drug delivery using lipid nanoparticles. - Kathrine Malmose Juncker Christensen (Adam C Simonsen and Ellen Pørtner) physics bachelor .
AFM Punch-through experiments on lipid bilayer systems with and without annexins. - Victor Reib (Francesca Serra), physics, bachelor .
Memory in smectic liquid crystals. - Shneha Thayalan (Jonathan Brewer, Jesper Grud Madsen) computational biomedicine, masters.
Exploring Cell Segmentation and Spatial Organization in MERFISH Data: A Comparative Study of Analytical Methods. - Rasmus Schnoor-Madsen (Daniel Wustner; Maria Szomek) BMB bachelor.
Characterisation and compartmentalization of fluorescent sulfated sterols.
Monday May 5th, 2025: PhyLife Seminar- Student Flash Talks
Again, this year it is a pleasure to invite to a series of flash talks featuring the students at PhyLife.
The Speakers of the PhyLife student talks May 5th 11-1145 in Lykeion are
- Kathrine Malmose Juncker Christensen (Adam C Simonsen and Ellen Pørtner) physics, bachelor.
AFM Punch-through experiments on lipid bilayer systems with and without annexins - Victor Reib (Francesca Serra), physics, bachelor.
Memory in smectic liquid crystals - Shneha Thayalan (Jonathan Brewer, Jesper Grud Madsen) computational biomedicine, master.
Exploring Cell Segmentation and Spatial Organization in MERFISH Data: A Comparative Study of Analytical Methods - Husam Ataba, Munir Sayel, and Aghyad (Ariad) Abdalhffiz (Brewer group) Pharmacy master.
Develop and optimize methods for transdermal drug delivery using lipid nanoparticles
Pending final confirmation and title
Rasmus Schnoor-Madsen (Daniel Wustner; Maria Szomek) BMB bachelor.
Monday May 7th, 2025: PhyLife Seminar in Lykeion
The next PhyLife Seminar will be on Monday May 7th where Marin Eriksen from the group of Himanshu Khandelia will give a talk titled 'Optimization of RNAse Inhibitors for Production'.
The talk starts at 11.00 in Lykeion.
Wednesday April 2nd, 2025: Visit of Ada-Ioana Bunea
We are very lucky that associate prof. Ada-Ioana Bunea will visit us from DTU on April 2nd. She is an expert of 3D laser printing and she and her students will give a mini-workshop where they will showcase their work in robotics and biomaterials. The talks will be from 11 to 13 (with a lunch/ cake break in between) on April 2nd in Lykeion.
Tuesday March 18th, 2025: Thesis defense of Aniruddh Murali
Aniruddh Murali, from the group of Francesca Serra, will defend his PhD thesis on Tuesday March 18th! His talk will be in room 301 at 2pm, and we envision a celebration to follow sometimes around 4-4.30pm.
Monday March 17th, 2025: visit of Proffesor Maria Helena Godinho
Professor Godinho, from Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal, has been a pioneer in the field of liquid crystals made with biological material, especially with cellulose. She has investigated different types of structures formed by cellulose and envisioned their use for robotics and photonics.
She will be visiting SDU from Monday, the 17th, to Tuesday, the 18th, and we look forward to hear her seminar on her fascinating work.
Monday March 3rd, 2025: PhyLife Seminar in Lykeion
The next PhyLife Seminar will be on Monday March 3rd where we have two speakers.
- Vibeke Akkerman, Daniel Wüstner group : Role of NPC2 in macrophage cholesterol efflux and inflammation.
- Søren Vad Iversen, Michael Lomholt group: Improved Bayesian Inference: Goodness-of-fit for model selection.
The talk starts at 11.00 in Lykeion.
Thursday February 18th, 2025: PhyLife Seminar in Lykeion
Dr. Samudrajit Thapa, visiting Dr. Michael Lomholt at PhyLife from The Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany, will give a talk on his research on Thursday, February 18th.
Title: Characterizing Diffusion in Heterogeneous, Viscoelastic Media Using Long-Range Correlated Stochastic Processes
Location and Time: Lykeion, 13:00 – 13:45
Monday February 3rd, 2025: PhyLife Seminar in Lykeion
The next PhyLife Seminar will be on Monday February 3rd where Aniruddh Murali from the group of Francesca Serra will give a talk titled Actuation of Cell Sheets in 3D.
The talk starts at 11.00 in Lykeion.
Monday January 13th, 2025: PhyLife Talks in Lykeion
On Monday January 13th we continue the series of Phylife talks. Vinay Mishra from Adams group will give a talk titled "Quantifying microstructure and molecular dynamics in plant-dairy based model gels using FLIM and STED microscopy".
The talk starts at 11.00 in Lykeion.
Greetings from India
Himanshu Khandelia sends his best wishes for the new year from sunny Jaisalmer, India, where he had a chance encounter with Prof. P. B. Sunil Kumar, a former member of Memphys.
Tuesday December 3rd, 2024: Departmental Seminar in Lykeion at 1 pm
We are proud to welcome Dr. Natalia Prieto Vidal, Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Chemistry and Technology at Aarhus University, as the guest speaker for this special PhyLife seminar.
Dr. Vidal will deliver a presentation titled Betaine Lipids: The Underexplored Polar Lipids in Marine Algae.
The Seminar is hosted by Himanshu Khandelia and will take place in Lykeion from 11:00 - 12:00
Monday August 26th, 2024: Departmental Seminar in Lykeion
On Monday August 26th Dr. Jagannath Mondal give a presentation of their work on Simulating and Predicting Intrinsically Disordered Protein Conformation and Aggregation with Machine Learning.
The Seminar is hosted by Himanshu Khandelia and will take place in Lykeion from 11:00 - 12:00
Monday May 6th, 2024: PhyLife Talks in Lykeion
On Monday May 6th we continue the Phylife Seminar Series, where all of our bachelor- and masters-students will present their projects as flash talks. As always the seminar takes place in Lykeion at 11 am, so come and support our students and hear about all the interesting projects they have been working on.
Monday April 8, 2024: PhyLife Talks in Lykeion
On Monday April 8th we continue the Phylife Seminar Series, where Emilie from Carsten Svaneborg's group will give a talk on a spring model for stiff polymers. As always the talk is in Lykeion at 11 am.
Monday March 18, 2024: PhyLife Talks in Lykeion
After our winter break, the Phylife Seminar Series will continue. We're meeting on March 18th at 11 AM in the Lykeion Seminar Room. This session, we're pleased to have Francesca and Konark as our speakers. Hope to see you there for some interesting talks and discussions.
- Title of Francesca's talk: Control of liquid crystals' orientation in 3 dimensions using photo-alignment.
- Title of Konark's talk: Computational and theoretical studies of biological membranes.
March 7th 2024: Welcome to the new PhyLife website
PhyLife, the interdisciplinary research collective at the University of Southern Denmark, is pleased to announce the launch of our new website. Visit us at to learn about our work in biophysical research and advanced microscopy techniques. Our platform offers insights into our projects and the collaborative efforts between our departments.
Explore our site to stay informed about our latest research and developments.