Farshid Mohammad-Rafiee

I hold a Ph.D. in Physics from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Iran, completed under the supervision of Professor Ramin Golestanian in 2005. I completed my postdoctoral research in the group of Professor Pierre Sens at ESPCI, Paris, from 2006 to 2007. My educational background is deeply rooted in theoretical and computational physics, strongly focusing on soft and living matter. I have extensive academic experience, including nearly two decades at IASBS, where I currently serve as an Associate Professor of Physics. Currently, I am a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania (October 2023-present), where I have expanded my research in biological physics and soft matter. My research interests lie at the intersection of physics and biology, where I explore topics such as active and passive membrane deformations, chromatin structure dynamics, gene regulation mechanisms, and active cytoskeleton processes, as well as microbial growth. I use theoretical models and numerical simulations in my work. At UPenn, I have recently begun applying physical learning models to investigate complex biological behaviors, such as protein adaptation and epistasis.