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