
Professor Damien Hicks
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States; MS, Stanford University, United States; BS, Stanford University, United States
- School of Science
- Optical Sciences Centre
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
- AMDC 821 Hawthorn campus
- ORCID profile
Biography
I lead the Complex Systems group in the Optical Sciences Centre. Through a dialogue between biological questions, physical models, and statistical methods my group develops ways to model systems represented with high-dimensional data. I am particularly interested in how one identifies the objects of interest in a complex system, where collective entities can emerge. Symmetries are a powerful organising principle here and we have shown how representation theory reveals the stages of decision-making in cell lineage trees. We have also explored how symmetry invariants in the parameter space of a neural population model can uncover the physiological drivers of brain dynamics. I received my BS (1993) and MS (1993) from Stanford University and my PhD (1999) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Applied Plasma Physics. From 2000-2014 I was a post-doc then staff physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. After returning to Australia, I was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow from 2015-2019.
Research interests
Computational Biology; Applied Statistics; Complex Systems
PhD candidate and honours supervision
Higher degrees by research
Accredited to supervise Masters & Doctoral students as Principal Supervisor.
Honours
Available to supervise honours students.
Honours topics and outlines
Molecular networks: Molecular networks underpin all living systems, bringing robustness and reliability to life. Yet when studied at the level of a single cell, these biological circuits are noisy and unpredictable. Projects are available to study the interplay of noise and function in cancer and cell death.
Fields of Research
- Biological Physics - 510501
- Atomic, Molecular And Optical Physics - 510200
- Nuclear And Plasma Physics - 510600
Teaching areas
Statistical Mechanics;Classical Mechanics
Publications
Also published as: Hicks, Damien; Hicks, D.; Hicks, D. G.; Hicks, Damien G.
This publication listing is provided by Swinburne Research Bank. If you are the owner of this profile, you can update your publications using our online form.
Recent research grants awarded
- 2022: Understanding latent fate programming in T cells. *; Ideas Grants
- 2021: What makes an activity? Learning logical rules from contributing events *; APR Internship Program
- 2020: 3D Nanofabrication and Nanocharacterisation facility *; ARC Linkage Infrastructure and Equipment Scheme
* Chief Investigator
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