Dr. David Brückner

Biography

David Brückner received a Bachelor Master of Science in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. In 2021, he earned his PhD in Physics from Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, where he was awarded the Dissertation Award by the Munich University Association. He subsequently worked as an EMBO NOMIS Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria. In 2022, he received the Gustav-Hertz-Prize from the German Physical Society for his work on stochastic dynamics of migrating cells. As of 2025, he will take up the position of Assistant Professor in Theoretical Biophysics at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, while being co-affiliated with the Department of Physics. His research group focuses on the physics of living systems, developing theoretical approaches to uncover the interactions between cells and molecules that control the behaviors of multicellular systems. Leveraging combinations of statistical physics, soft matter physics, and information theory, they address fundamental questions regarding the collective dynamics of interacting cells and their influence on multicellular dynamics and development from single-cell embryos. By employing inference machine learning approaches, the group connects theoretical models with quantitative datasets through collaboration with experimental laboratories worldwide. Their research aims to understand the diversity of shapes and patterns in developmental systems, uncovering recurring physical principles that are applicable across different organisms, developmental stages, and length scales. This understanding enhances insights into the robustness of developmental mechanisms, explains defects arising from failures in these mechanisms, and provides design principles for artificial developmental systems such as organoids.

Research Interests