Biophysical Society Bulletin | January 2026

Publications

Know the Editor Siewert-Jan Marrink University of Groningen

Supplementary Information material of our Nature Methods paper on the Martini force field: https:/static-content.spring er.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41592-021-01098-3/Me diaObjects/41592_2021_1098_MOESM1_ESM.pdf).

Editor, Membranes Biophysical Journal

Editor’s Pick

Medulla

Siewert-Jan Marrink

Cortex

What are you currently working on that excites you? When I was a PhD student in the early nineties, molecular dynamics simulations of lipid membranes represented an up coming area of research. We struggled getting our force fields to the point that a bilayer configuration was actually stable. And once we achieved this, we could simulate a small patch of only 64 lipids over a very limited (100 ps) time period. Nowadays, we are pushing simulations of entire cells (admit tedly, one of the smallest cells known, JCVI-syn3A), compris ing millions of lipids together with thousands of membrane proteins and a crowded cytoplasm inside, totaling close to a billion particles. Remarkably, those early day simulations took months to complete on the most powerful computers of that era (Cyber 205), and once completed, analysis of the resulting data took only a few afternoons. On the contrary, nowadays we generate terabytes of data overnight even on our local desktop machines, but analysis of these huge multicompo nent systems requires months of work. This ongoing increase in the time and length scales that we can simulate, together with the associated challenges of how to deal with complex data, excites me and pushes me to continue exploring the frontiers of computational modeling. At a cocktail party of non-scientists, how would you explain what you do? I would start pouring them a martini, my favorite cocktail and the name-giver of the force field we have developed in my group (together with many others). Then, I would explain how we, like making a cocktail, mix different ingredients togeth er to allow us to simulate what happens inside a cell. Most likely they would already be lost at this point, so I would pour them another martini. In fact, I would mix them our special prize-winning liquid-liquid phase-separated martini, giving me the opportunity to explain how liquid-liquid phase separa tion is of fundamental importance for providing the final an swer to everything. They might want to know what the actual question is, so I would simply refer to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy . After shaking another round of martinis, I would reit erate that working in science is fun, because you get to mix a lot of martinis, and you can even publish the recipes in re spected scientific journals (true! have a look at the end of the

Cuticula

The Biophysicist A Homebuilt Experiment to Quantify the Mechanical Proper ties of Hair Fabian Bennati Weis, Tizian Schmidt, Kilian Kuhlbrodt, Ruth Meyer, Charlotta Lorenz, and Sarah Köster “Gaining research experience early on is instrumental for undergraduate students, motivating them and improving their comprehension of science. This paper presents an experi mental setup that does not require access to state-of-the-art research laboratories and that provides hands-on conceptual and experimental insights into biophysical research. Due to time constraints, such research-oriented hands-on skills are commonly less in focus during undergraduate studies. With this experiment, students can simultaneously record force–strain curves and measure the diameter of microm eter-diameter fibers (such as hair) to examine elongation, stiffness, dissipated energy, and the Poisson ratio. To study these properties, the students familiarize themselves with different data analysis tools, including image processing and data fitting, and compare the results to those in the literature. The data analysis includes challenges typical for biophysics, such as sample-to-sample variations, signal fluctuations, and a limited number of available samples. The students accompany the entire process of experimental development, analysis, interpretation, and discussion of data. Teachers provide instructions and code for automating the experiment. This experiment thus narrows the gap between didactic aims and current practice in undergraduate experimental courses in biophysics.” Version of Record Published April 11, 2025 DOI: https:/doi.org/10.35459/tbp.2024.000280

January 2026

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