Karis Baker is the Manager of the UK Physics of Life Network (PoLNET), a role she has held since 2017. PoLNET is a UK-wide interdisciplinary network connecting physical and life science researchers to address complex biological and medical challenges. During her time in role, she has helped deliver three successful phases of the network, including managing the Physics of Medicine programme. Karis has worked closely with a wide range of funders, including UKRI’s EPSRC, BBSRC and MRC, as well as Wellcome and the Rosetrees Trust.
Before joining PoLNET, she completed a PhD and postdoctoral research in biology and later became Manager of Durham BSI. Karis has also served on the Physics of Life Conference Committee since its inaugural conference in 2023, supporting the growth of this thriving interdisciplinary research community.
Jamie Hobbs is a professor of Experimental Physics in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the development and application of atomic force microscopy to understand living systems, with a particular focus on bacteria, antimicrobial resistance, and
cells with walls. He chairs the AFM&SPM section of the Royal Microscopical Society, is on the steering committee of PoLnet, and chaired this conference in 2025.
Rivka Isaacson is Professor of Molecular Biophysics in the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences, King’s College London. Her research uses integrated biophysical methods to investigate structure, function, interactions and dynamics of proteostasis machinery inside mammalian and bacterial cells. Rivka is also a passionate interdisciplinarian conducting many projects across
the arts-sciences interface, including an ongoing multimedia collaboration with London Fine Art Studios called Viewing the Invisible, and a longstanding relationship with the Iris Murdoch Research Centre at Chichester University around science and literature. She is excited to welcome you all to UK Physics
of Life 2027…
Prof Mark Leake is a physicist by training, addressing challenging biophysical and biochemical questions in a range of biological processes. He gained his biophysics PhD on muscle proteins using optical tweezers in King’s College London, later postdoctoral positions in Oxford and Heidelberg, and independence as a Royal Society URF in Oxford, leading research in single-molecule biophysics, prior to becoming Anniversary Chair of Biological Physics at the University of York in 2013. Mark was
Director-Founder of the Biological Physical Sciences Institute and is Coordinator of the Physics of Life Group at the University of York, and as of October 2026 is the Director of the Biophysical Sciences Institute (BSI) of Durham University. His research involves developing new single-molecule optical microscopy instrumentation for addressing open biological questions and coupling these to molecular biology/biochemistry to investigate single biomolecules under physiologically relevant environments. Mark is Chair of the Physics of Life network PoLNET.