Jens Timmer

Prof Dr. Jens Timmer is professor for theoretical physics at the University of Freiburg and director of the School of Life Sciences – LifeNet at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, the university’s research institute. He began focusing on systems biology more than ten years ago as one of the first scientists in Germany. This approach pools the expertise of biologists, medical researchers, physicists, and mathematicians to produce a new, more exact understanding of life processes, health, and disease. Timmer is convinced that biological processes can be represented in mathematical formulas. His models have been used, for example, to decipher signaling paths that are of critical importance for the development of cancer.