Integrative Biophysics Group

Investigating biophysics of living systems through an integrative lens . PI: Ahmed El Hady ( @zamakany ) . For inquiries, email: [email protected]

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

Quotes guiding our philosophy of pursuing knowledge at the Integrative Biophysics Group

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

New study from our group.
Many theorists have been thinking about what would a theory of behavior look like, in this study we are lay the groundwork for a statistical mechanics of behavior.
A lot more needs to be done , it is just the beginning . https://t.co/6sUnp5k5Nd

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

NEW PREPRINT ALERT 🙌
"Statistical Mechanics of Spontaneous Behavior "

Why do a few behaviors fill most of an animal's time? The usual answer is that these behaviors are started more often, because learning and reinforcement favor them. Here we show that how long a behavior lasts can, by itself, explain much of what is observed.

For example, analyzing 47 multi-day recordings of fruit flies, the dominant behavior accounts for only 13% of bout starts yet fills 49% of the time, and its typical duration identifies the individual fly.

To account for this recurrent behavioral observation, we propose the following laws of thermodynamics 👇

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

New paper from our group, enjoy reading 🙌

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

Very happy that this paper is out. Joint work with the group of Armin Bahl at University of Konstanz investigating the developmental and genetic modulation of evidence accumulation dynamics in Zebrafish . Congrads to Roberto and Armin

Read the paper here: https://t.co/uHRj0BB3Ao

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

Our PI Ahmed El Hady is in Janelia Farm doing some foraging experiments. Curious what it is about, stay tuned :D

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

Who said PIs do not do their own experiments 😄
Back in @HHMIJanelia hosted by Emily Dennis lab to collect some very cool foraging data . Stay tuned

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

New preprint!
Lisa Blum Moyse and Ahmed El Hady delved into model selection and identifiability methods of social evidence accumulation models providing practical guidelines on how to design your next favorite collective foraging experiments, check it: https://t.co/fVPX2ikCAZ

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

Very excited to welcome @IntBioPhysics newest PhD student Matheus Stefanini Mariano who did his bachelor and masters in physics at Universidade de São Paulo (USP) . Very much looking forward to work with Matheus on a variety of projects.

In his doctoral research, he is planning to investigate how behavioral patterns, their temporal organization, and the objectives underlying them can be inferred from tracking data using machine learning methods. Ultimately, he aims to connect these data-driven representations with mechanistic models of the underlying behavioral dynamics. For more information, please check his website: https://t.co/S4novLKAtj.

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

Third, a study on how environmental statistics shape foraging strategies in Drosophila larvae

https://t.co/Wc6B82fwJ4

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

In the last few months, our group published some papers that would be of interest to many of you.

First a review on neurobiology of foraging https://t.co/Y1LqEEiZVk

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

Second, a study on how resource depletion shapes reward rate and compositional learning in a patch foraging context

https://t.co/F1KMvnW7ya

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

If you happen to be around NYU on May 4th , come see Jacob Davidson and myself speaking about our latest work developing algorithms for social behavior analytics. All details are on the poster below, reach out if you are around.

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

After three years of working on this review with my collaborator Emily Jane Dennis from Janelia Farm Research Campus , it is finally in press. The review provides an overview and our personal reflections on what constitutes an integrative approach to neurobiology of foraging. Pretty pertinent discussion today as foraging is becoming a topic of interest for many neuroscientists. Enjoy the review

https://t.co/1uDNX2oXYd

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

A new preprint from our group formalizing mate choice, a central problem in evolutionary biology, as an optimal foraging problem.

Check it out here: https://t.co/ggCHkNCi6P

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

NEW PREPRINT ALERT:
Mate choice is a central problem in evolutionary biology. Daniel Bernstein from @Princeton and myself asked whether Mate choice can be formalized as foraging problem.

We developed an analytically tractable optimal foraging-inspired mechanistic theory of decision-making underlying mate choice .

We got interesting mate choice strategies :D across our parameter spaces from eager to patient to reserved. Check out the preprint for all details https://t.co/ZdqSRv67Iu

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

To more and more foraging studies 🙌🙌

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

A new paper from our group that investigates how different forms of social hierarchy and inequality shapes patch foraging strategies.

Check out the paper here: https://t.co/iMYUxY5ccg

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

So happy that my paper with Lisa Blum Moyse on how social hierarchy shapes foraging strategies is out in Physics Review Research.
We develop an analytically tractable model of how leader - follower dynamics and spread of misinformation shape patch foraging.

Check the paper here: https://t.co/JtPFZ8VEEE

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

Check out this workshop organized by our PI Ahmed El Hady @zamakany, to take place at @HHMIJanelia

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

So excited we are organizing again with @AllysonSgro the Junior Scientist workshop for theoretical biophysics to take place at @HHMIJanelia from September 13 - 18, 2026 . Janelia will cover the cost of accommodation, meals and reasonable travel expenses for accepted participants.

Deadline: April 16, 2026

Website: https://t.co/tgfWGA9dWA

This workshop is intended as a "by the students, for the students" meeting. Other than the organizers and invited speakers, participants will include only students and postdocs working on a variety of problems in theoretical biophysics, broadly defined. Topics include but not limited to:

·Physical principles underlying biological function in molecular, cellular, multicellular systems

·Theory of organismal development

·Theory of animal behavior, ecological systems, and evolutionary dynamics

· Data driven identification of principles in biophysical systems

· Physics of active matter

· Non–equilibrium thermodynamics of living systems

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

The Konstanz school of collective behavior is happening again in 2026 with an amazing line up of speakers.

Check out the website: https://t.co/kWxC7fmP30

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

So excited that the Konstanz school of Collective Behavior will take place again from 20th July to 7th August , 2026.

We have an amazing line up of speakers covering state of the art research on collective behavior from cells to tissues to whole organisms and across animal species from worms, flies, fish to non-human primates and human. One of a kind school that takes you on a journey exploring the complexities and the mathematical beauty of collective behavior.

Application deadline : March 15th

All details can be found here: https://t.co/1FWBiToaxK

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

Come join our group

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

Pls RT this ad:

I have an opening for a PhD student in my @IntBioPhysics group to begin ASAP , part of a collaboration with the group of Ilya Nemenman @INemenman at Emory university.

Deadline: 1st November

Details here: https://t.co/QK4oWpntJN and application portal here: https://t.co/0jf4clo2OH

We are seeking a doctoral student with a quantitative background. Ideally, the candidate should have a master degree in physics but other quantitative backgrounds will be considered. The researcher will be based in the Integrative Biophysics group at the University of Konstanz and Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, located in Konstanz, Germany.

The project summary is as follows:

Project Title: Inferring dynamical interactions in social groups

Project Abstract:
Social interactions are one of the most foundational building blocks of group behaviors, shaping decision making strategies across ecologies. Social groups consist of small number of individuals in contrast with collectives that consist of large number of agents. Despite the importance of social groups as a building block of living systems, there is little understanding of mechanistic details of the nature of those social interactions and how they shape emergent social functional properties. This stands in contrast with physics of collectives, which usually focus on the dynamics of very large group of individuals and have been thoroughly studied. In an experimental system or in field observations tackling social behaviors, we do not know a priori the social forces, nature of those interactions and their dynamics. Recent advances in software and hardware allow us to track the behavior of multiple individuals over extended spatio-temporal scales. Thus it is crucial to develop methodologies to infer dynamical social interactions and social forces from experimental observations. This relates closely to work done inferring "social forces" from dusty plasmas.
Recent theoretical work has developed an information theoretic approach to estimate intrinsic motivation, based on maximizing an agent's empowerment (defined as the mutual information between its past actions and future states). This approach can be used to study social behaviours, where individuals choose actions without an explicit reward signal. In this project, we are planning to apply this framework to infer and understand social behaviour of small animal groups specifically locusts, mice and marmosets monkeys offering not only a mechanistic insights into mechanisms of social organization but also make quantitative evolutionary comparison of social behaviours.

1. Yu, Wentao, Eslam Abdelaleem, Ilya Nemenman, and Justin C. Burton. "Physics-tailored machine learning re-veals unexpected physics in dusty plasmas.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122, no. 31 (2025): e2505725122.

2. Tiomkin, Stas, Ilya Nemenman, Daniel Polani, and Naftali Tishby. "Intrinsic motivation in dynamical control sys-tems.” PRX Life 2, no. 3 (2024): 033009.

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

Very glad that Albin Salazar @latinchemist is joining our group as a postdoctoral fellow where his goal is to wed multi-level paradigms with multi-scale data integration to elucidate mechanistic behaviors pertinent in diverse foraging scenarios.😄

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

Can one bring together Reinforcement learning and Drift Diffusion models to unravel cognitive mechanisms underlying collective foraging ?

Congrads to Jonathan Marienhagen , Lisa Blum Moyse and Dominik Deffner on this new study. Very happy that @IntBioPhysics postdoc Lisa and myself were part of this collaboration.

Preprint here: https://t.co/VOuYf4h4yr

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

The school director is our PI Ahmed El Hady ( @zamakany ) . It is such a pleasure to host all those amazing students and faculty in Konstanz.

[Ahmed El Hady @zamakany]

Konstanz school of collective behavior 2025 was a great success. Amazing students and faculty , who spent so many hours discussing state of the art collective behavior research. We are already preparing for the 2026 version so stay tuned. Details to be updated here : https://t.co/XN9vgbL0qv

During the last day of the school, every student gave a short presentation about their school project, thread: / n

[Integrative Biophysics Group @IntBioPhysics]

Check out this postdoc opening in our research group . Deadline : Sept 15th