Research report 2015 - Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry

Minimization of life processes

Authors
Schwille, Petra
Departments
Forschungsgruppe Zelluläre und molekulare Biophysik
Summary
In spite of the great progress of the biosciences during the last decades, the very line of division between the animate and inanimate world still remains elusive. One of the most distinctive features of living systems is their compositional and organizational complexity, but how complex does life really have to be? Our research aims to identify a minimal set of fundamental features and governing principles of biological cells - being the smallest units of life - to enable their comprehensive biophysical, i.e., quantitative characterization by a defined set of parameters.

For the full text, see the German version.

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