Elective projects

After the common project P1, you choose one elective in each round. Every elective follows the same four milestones as P1 (running, validated core figure, report with LLM log, oral defense). Each one has its own validation step: a way of showing that your result is right.

Round 1 (P2): weeks 11–17

Choose by Sunday 14 March. Report due Sunday 25 April, defense Tuesday 27 April.

2A Freezing cells: the physics of cryopreservation. Osmosis, freezing-point depression and water flow through the membrane during cooling. Find the cooling rate that avoids both ice inside the cell and damage from concentrated solution. Possibly with a wet-lab measurement of cell volume against osmolarity.

2B Nerve signals: from Nernst to Hodgkin–Huxley. From the resting potential to the action potential and neuronal calcium dynamics, compared with two-photon calcium imaging in mouse cortex.

2C Active cell layers: from Vicsek to epithelia. Map the flocking transition in the Vicsek model, then measure cell shape, orientation and nematic order in quantitative-phase images of epithelial monolayers, tested against null models.

Round 2 (P3): weeks 17–21

Choose by Thursday 22 April. Report due Sunday 23 May, defense Tuesday 25 May.

3A Cell sorting and tissue shape with the Cellular Potts model. Reproduce sorting, engulfment and mosaic patterns from contact energies and map the phase diagram.

3B Mechanics of epithelial monolayers (wet lab). Grow epithelial monolayers, image them live, and measure velocity fields and correlation lengths.

3C Imaging at the physical limits. Label-free quantitative phase imaging: from phase to dry mass, calibrated on beads and applied to cells. How do shot noise and photodamage limit what we can see, and what could squeezed light gain?

3D Orientation order in epithelial monolayers, towards a paper. A research project that continues 2C: is there nematic order in MDCK monolayers beyond chance, and at which scales? Builds on a 2025 student pipeline and a manuscript in progress; good results go into the paper.

Detailed project texts for 3A–3C will be posted before the elective fair on 15 April.