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The biophysics of life, exploring how light & energy shape biology, with biophysicist Dr. Nirosha Murugan.

Episode Summary: Dr. Murugan discusses the role of biophysics in biology, focusing on how light, particularly biophotons emitted by cells, influences processes like wound healing, neural activity, and cancer detection; how microtubules may act as biological fiber optics, the impact of modern light environments on health; her work inducing limb regeneration in frogs using silk hydrogels and growth factors; cancer as an energetic dysfunction; potential of non-invasive photonic diagnostics; the need for new tools to study these phenomena.

About the guest: Nirosha Murugan, PhD is a biophysicist and assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. Her lab investigates the biophysics of life.

Note: Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and everyone on YouTube. Partial versions are available elsewhere. Transcript and other information on Substack.

Key Conversation Points:

Cells emit biophotons, ultra-weak light tied to metabolism, which may carry information for processes like immune response and neural communication.
Microtubules might function as biological fiber optics, potentially guiding light within cells for signaling purposes.
Red and near-infrared light can accelerate wound healing and reduce inflammation, likely by modulating mitochondrial activity.
Cancer cells emit distinct photonic signatures, which could enable non-invasive diagnostics by detecting light differences from healthy tissues.
Modern light environments, unlike natural sunlight, may subtly affect health by altering biological responses to electromagnetic signals.
Biological systems act as metamaterials, patterning energy flow in ways that constrain and shape molecular and behavioral outcomes.

Related episode:

M&M 221: Regenerative Energy & the Light Inside You | Jack Kruse

*Not medical advice.

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Biophysics of Life: Biophotons, Light, Quantum Biology, Regeneration & Cancer | Nirosha Murugan | 227

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