Pankaj Mehta

Pankaj Mehta is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Boston University, with additional affiliations in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. His research bridges statistical physics, theoretical biology, and interdisciplinary systems approaches. Key areas include ecological dynamics, synthetic biology, and the application of machine learning principles to biological systems.

His work focuses on understanding emergent phenomena in biological systems, such as cell fate decisions, ecosystem stability, and signal processing in cellular networks. He has pioneered methods combining physics-based modeling with computational tools to study complex systems, including gene circuits, microbial communities, and cancer dynamics.

Recent contributions highlight the use of order parameters for interpreting cellular states, geometric frameworks for ecological niches, and machine learning analogies to ecological principles. His interdisciplinary approach integrates experimental data with theoretical models to address questions in biomedicine, environmental science, and fundamental physics.