Programme of the Physical Biology Circle Meeting 2026
10:00 - 10:15 Opening remarks by the scientific coordinators of the event
Session I
10:15 - 10:45 Eva Pillai (EMBL) - Cytoskeleton-membrane coupling and the emergence of multicellular organization
10:45 - 11:15 Sarah Gómez i García (AMOLF) - Deep-learning based automated reconstruction of anatomical axis coordinates in developing C. elegans larvae
11:15 - 11:45 Coffee break
Session II
11:45 - 12:15 Víctor Hugo Mello (GIMM) - Symmetry, coupling, and emergence in hexameric molecular motors
12:15 - 12:45 Lisa Redlingshöfer (MPICBG) - Rab5 controls endosomal membrane fusion by triggering the co-assembly of dynamic tethering and fusion collectives
12:45 - 13:15 Shilpi Dhar (EMBL) - Mechanosensitive ssDNA organisation by Replication Protein A (RPA)
13:15 - 15:00 Lunch break
Session III
15:00 - 15:30 Jiayi Zeng (MPIPKS) - Physics of P-granule Wetting the Nucleus in C.elegans
15:30 - 16:00 Vinavadini Ramnarain (Institut Curie) - DNA biomolecular condensates to study the pre-wetting of lipid membranes
16:00 - 16:30 Yahor Savich (MPIPKS) - A protein-DNA surface hydrogel mechanically reinforces the cell nucleus
16:30 - 17:00 Manuel Vásquez (GIMM) - Quantifying the (a)symmetric fitness effects of aneuploidy in S. cerevisiae
Session IV
10:00 - 10:30 Shiheng Zhao (MPIPKS) - Euler buckling on curved surfaces
10:30 - 11:00 Suganthan Senthilkumar (MPIPKS) - Mechano-chemical stabilisation of topological defects in an elasto-nematic sheet
11:00 - 11:30 Coffee break
Session V
11:30 - 12:00 Ali Tahaei (MPIPKS) - Signatures of mechanosensitive cell extrusions in cell size distribution
12:00 - 12:30 Simone Cicolini (U. Geneva) - Race between bone and tissue growth in Zebrafish scale regeneration
12:30 - 13:00 Jialing Cao (CENTURI) - Mechanical regulation of pattern formation in gastruloids
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch break
Session VI
14:00 - 15:00 Keynote speaker: Marco Fumasoni (GIMM) - Experimentally evolving cellular miniaturization
15:00 - 15:30 Juliette Sebellin (EMBL) - Single-molecule quantification of KU70/80 self-organisation at single-stranded break
15:30 - 16:00 Coffee break
Session VII
16:00 - 16:30 Václav Bočan (MPICBG) - Thermodynamics of cell growth
16:30 - 17:00 Isabel LuValle-Burke (MPICBG) - Reconstitution of the C. elegans anterior PAR complex
17:00 - 19:00 Poster session (focus on odd numbers)
Session VIII
10:00 - 10:30 Toni Mendes (CENTURI) - A Run-and-Tumble Model for Neuronal Morphogenesis
10:30 - 11:00 Josef Kaenders (MPICBG) - Automated Imaging for Cortical Dynamics in Early C. Elegans Embryos
11:00 - 11:30 Ruben Tesoro Moreno (EMBL) - Cagging of membrane-to-cortex attachment can trigger cellular symmetry breaking
11:30 - 12:00 Coffee break
GIMM Internal seminar
12:00 - 13:00 GIMM Internal seminar
13:00 - 15:00 Lunch break
Session X
15:00 - 15:30 Ashot Matevosyan (MPIPKS) - Non-equilibrium noise in driven and active gels
15:30 - 16:00 Julia Pfanzelter (MPICBG) - An active torque dipole across tissue layers drives avian left-right symmetry breaking
16:00 - 16:30 Sagnik Garai (MPIPKS) - Hydrodynamic interaction of squirmers with a periodic surface
16:30 - 17:00 Ananya Natarajan (AMOLF) - Heterodimer interaction ensures stability of a bistable cell fate switch
17:00 - 19:00 Poster session (focus on even numbers)
20:00 - 23:00 Conference dinner
Session XI
10:00 - 10:30 Saraswat Bhattacharyya (MPIPKS) - Density and pressure fluctuations in fluid-like cell layers
10:30 - 11:00 Celine Pohl (Institut Curie) - Topography-dependent interaction of BAR proteins and actin components in a minimal system
11:00 - 11:30 Davide Marcato (GIMM) - Theory of polymers in binary solvent solutions
11:30 - 12:00 Coffee break
Session XII
12:00 - 12:30 Srivatsava Viswanadha (CENTURI) - Optimization of mouse gastruloid protocol to study heart development
12:30 - 13:00 Adil Temirgaliyev (EMBL) - Overcoming Obstacles – How to Train T Cells to Migrate in Dense Cancerous Tissues
13:00 - 13:30 Mirna Kramar (Institut Curie) - Bioelectric regulation of collective epithelial dynamics
13:30 - 13:45 Closing remarks by the scientific coordinators of the event
13:45 - 14:15 Packed lunch and departure