Fridtjof Brauns

PostDoc Fellow at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Phyisics, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Contact: fbrauns [at] kitp.ucsb.edu

ORCID

Google Scholar

Resarch Interests

I am broadly interested in self-organization in living systems: How does biology control and harness physical instabilities? How does geometry emerge from genes during development? I investigate these overarching questions using concepts and ideas from theoretical physics, dynamical systems, and geometry, working in close collaboration with experimentalists.

Morphogenesis

• Cell and tissue mechanics
• Where and how is shape encoded? (Top-down genetic control vs bottom-up self-organization)
• Patterning of morphogenetic anisotropy fields

Non-reciprocal pattern formation

• Non-reciprocal Cahn-Hilliard equation
• Can the lens of non-reciprocal interactions provide a new unifying understanding of far-from-equilibrium pattern formation
• What are the principles of nonlinear pattern selection?

Protein patterns and mass-conserving reaction–diffusion systems

• Generalize phase-portrait analysis to spatially extended systems
• Coarsening and pattern selection
• Intracellular pattern formation and evolution of the underlying protein interaction networks

Selected Publications

• A Geometric Tension Dynamics Model of Epithelial Convergent Extension

  N. H. Claussen*, FB*, B. I. Shraiman
  PNAS 121, e2321928121 (2024) [arXiv:2311.16384]

• The Geometric Basis of Epithelial Convergent Extension

  FB*, N. H. Claussen*, E. F. Wieschaus, B. I. Shraiman
  eLife, 10.7554/eLife.95521 (2024)

• Nonreciprocal pattern formation of conserved fields

  FB and M. Cristina Marchetti
  Phys. Rev. X 14, 021014 (2024)
  Videos: YouTube

• Patterning of morphogenetic anisotropy fields

  Z. Wang, M. Cristina Marchetti, and FB
  PNAS 120 (13), e2220167120 (2023)
  Videos: YouTube

• Bulk-surface coupling identifies the mechanistic connection between Min-protein patterns in vivo and in vitro

  FB*, G. Pawlik*, J. Halatek*, J. Kerssemakers E. Frey, and C. Dekker
  Nature Communications 12, 3312 (2021)

• Phase-space geometry of mass-conserving reaction–diffusion dynamics

  FB*, J. Halatek*, and E. Frey
  Phys. Rev. X 10, 041036 (2020)

• Self-organization principles of intracellular pattern formation

  J. Halatek, FB, and E. Frey
  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 373, 20170107 (2018)

*Equal contributions

For my full publication list, see Google Scholar.

Short CV

since 2021	KITP, UC Santa Barbara. Independent PostDoc Fellow. Work on cell and tissue mechanics during morphogenesis (with with Boris Shraiman) and on non-reciprocal pattern formation (with Cristina Marchetti). Collaborations with Andreas Bausch (TU Munich), Zvonimir Dogic (UCSB), Neil Lin (UCLA), Adrienne Roeder (Cornell), Sebastian Streichan (UCSB), Eric Wieschaus (Princeton)
2015 – 2021	LMU Munich. PhD student with Erwin Frey. Thesis: Principles and theory and of intracellular pattern formation
2010 – 2015	LMU Munich. BSc (Physics) and MSc (Theoretical and Mathematical Physics)

Invited conference talks

2025	Conservation laws and non-reciprocity (Münster University) Workshop: Biological systems that learn (NITMB, Chicago)
2024	KITP Conference: The Many Faces of Active Matter [Recording] DPG Annual Conference (Symposium: New Trends in Nonequilibrium Physics: Conservation Laws and Nonreciprocal Interactions)
2023	Workshop at TU Dresden: Vector- and Tensor-Valued Surface PDEs Isaac Newton Institute: Active mechanics, from single cells to cell layers, tissues and development KITP Program: Dynamics of Self-Organization in Animal and Plant Development [Recording] Workshop at Emory University: Working across scales in complex systems