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Physics of Biological Cells: from molecules to populations

Event description

The international workshop “Physics of Biological Cells: From Molecules to Populations”, will take place on May 14-16 2024 on the King’s Buildings campus of the University of Edinburgh. The workshop aims to bring together a vibrant community of researchers working on the current burgeoning topics of exceptional interest spanning experimental and theoretical biophysics, physics of life and biologically motivated soft matter physics.

The workshop Program will cover five broad themes:

• Biophysics of Bacteria and Microorganisms

• Protein-based Pattern Formation

• Genome organization and function

• Breaking spatial and temporal symmetry

• Biological active matter

Join us to listen to the excellent line-up of international speakers and consider active participation – submit an abstract for a contributed talk or poster presentation. Each workshop theme will offer three slots for contributed talks (15+5 min). Early career researchers including postdoctoral fellows and PhD students are highly encouraged to submit. The workshop aims to foster the atmosphere of equality, diversity and inclusion. Limited funds are available to offset travel expenses for participants in need, especially early career researchers.

The scientific Program will begin at 9am on Tuesday, May 14th and adjourn Thursday, May 16th at lunchtime. Detailed program to follow.

Registration: From March 1st abstracts are accepted for posters only. Abstracts and registration will be accepted until the Workshop reaches capacity.

Travel Fellowships: . Early career researchers and researchers from under-represented groups are warmly encouraged to apply for Travel Fellowships by email to sopa.events@ed.ac.uk  Support will be reimbursed after the workshop.

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Timetable

See the full timetable on Indico

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Conference Dinner (2h00′)
14 May / 07:55—08:00
Welcome - Davide Marenduzzo (0h05′)
14 May / 08:00—09:00
Keynote: Carsten Beta - Biohybrid active matter — how amoeboid cells actuate passive micro-cargo (1h00′)
14 May / 09:00—09:30
Andrew Goryachev - Pattern formation by proteins: diverse molecules and common principles (0h30′)
14 May / 09:30—10:00
Nir Gov - Guided by curvature: A theoretical model of cellular shape dynamics and motility, coupling curvature and activity (0h30′)
14 May / 10:30—11:00
Jacob Halatek - Towards a Theory of Pattern Formation in Reaction-Diffusion Systems (0h30′)
14 May / 11:00—11:20
Sergio Alonso - Interplay between biochemical pattern formation and cell locomotion (0h20′)
14 May / 11:20—11:40
Judith Lutton - Mathematical modelling of macropinocytosis informed by quantitative analysis of cell surfaces (0h20′)
14 May / 11:40—12:00
Francesco Avanzini - Nonideal Reaction-Diffusion Systems: Multiple Routes to Instability (0h20′)
14 May / 13:00—13:30
Isabella Guido - Mechanical instability in living matter (0h30′)
14 May / 13:30—14:00
Philip Pearce - Pattern formation by living droplets in chemoattractant gradients (0h30′)
14 May / 14:00—14:30
Suzanne Fielding - Modelling the rheology of biological tissue (0h30′)
14 May / 15:00—15:30
Markus Bär - Pattern formation in active biological fluids (0h30′)
14 May / 15:30—16:00
Linda Hirst - Self-Mixing Active Fluids (0h30′)
14 May / 16:00—16:20
Rodrigo García-Tejera - Licensing and competition of stem cells at the niche combine to regulate tissue maintenance (0h20′)
14 May / 16:20—16:40
Rachel Los - Play nice or pay the price: an interdisciplinary study of cooperators and cheaters in a growing microcolony (0h20′)
14 May / 16:40—17:00
Edoardo Maria Mollica - Bacterial motility effects on leaf colonisation (0h20′)
14 May / 17:00—19:00
Poster viewing (2h00′)
15 May / 08:00—09:00
Keynote: Julia M Yeomans - Modelling collective cell dynamics using active matter physics (1h00′)
15 May / 09:00—09:30
Willem Vanderlinden - Genome topology in retroviral integration (0h30′)
15 May / 09:30—10:00
Martin Howard - Diffusion-Mediated Coarsening Can Explain Meiotic Crossover Interference (0h30′)
15 May / 10:30—11:00
Rosana Collepardo Guevara - Physicochemical regulation of the liquid-like organisation of chromatin (0h30′)
15 May / 11:00—11:20
Giada Forte - Transcription modulates chromatin dynamics and locus configuration sampling (0h20′)
15 May / 11:20—11:40
Janni Harju - Loop-extruders alter bacterial chromosome topology to direct entropic forces for segregation (0h20′)
15 May / 11:40—12:00
Luke Davis - Minimal model rationalizes cascading inhomogeneities in biomolecular condensates (0h20′)
15 May / 13:00—13:30
Pietro Cicuta - Physics meet biology in collective states of motile cilia (0h30′)
15 May / 13:30—14:00
Andrea Weisse - The role of RNA repair in transient resistance to translation-targeting antibiotics (0h30′)
15 May / 14:00—14:30
Marco Polin - Single cell death triggers local avoidance response in the cosmopolitan picoeukaryote Micromonas (0h30′)
15 May / 15:00—15:30
Teuta Pilizota - Swimming on the edge: saturation of E. coli's flagellar motor speed proportionality to proton motive force (0h30′)
15 May / 15:30—16:00
Eleonora Secchi - Biofilms in fluids: flow-driven assembly dynamics and rheology (0h30′)
15 May / 16:00—16:20
Karen Grace Bondoc-Naumovitz - Comparative analysis of diatom gliding motility (0h20′)
15 May / 16:20—16:40
Kuheli Biswas - Universality of phenotypic distributions in bacteria (0h20′)
15 May / 16:40—17:00
Hannah Laeverenz-Schlogelhofer - Bioelectric control of locomotor gaits in a walking single cell (0h20′)
16 May / 08:00—09:00
Keynote: Alexander Grosberg - Polymer physics of DNA (1h00′)
16 May / 09:00—09:30
Aneta Koseska - Signaling homeorhesis underlies accurate determination of cellular phenotype (0h30′)
16 May / 09:30—10:00
Lendert Gelens - The Rhythmic Cytoskeleton: Controlling the Cell Division Cycle (0h30′)
16 May / 10:30—11:00
Liedewij Laan - Cell polarity in budding yeast as a window on evolution (0h30′)
16 May / 11:00—11:20
Sebastian Aland - Numerical simulation of active cell surfaces - from pattern formation to cell division (0h20′)
16 May / 11:20—11:40
Dionn Hargreaves - Mitotic spindle dynamics in stretched epithelial tissues, in vivo and in silico (0h20′)
16 May / 11:40—12:00
Alexander Mietke - Mechanics of asymmetric cell division (0h20′)
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Physics of Biological Cells: from molecules to populations

Venues

Elm Lecture Theatre (Find us on campus maps)
Kings Buildings Campus
Thomas Bayes Rd
Edinburgh
EH9 3FG

Organisers

Key speakers

  • Markus BAR (PTB, Germany)
  • Carsten BETA (Potsdam)
  • Pietro CICUTA (Cambridge)
  • Rosana COLLEPARDO-GUEVARA (Cambridge)
  • Suzanne FIELDING (Durham)
  • Lendert GELENS (KU Leuven)
  • Nir GOV (WIS)
  • Alexander GROSBERG (NYU)
  • Isabella GUIDO (Surrey)
  • Jacob HALATEK (LMU Munich)
  • Linda HIRST (University of California, Merced)
  • Martin HOWARD (John Innes Centre)
  • Aneta KOSESKA (MPG)
  • Liedewij LAAN (TU Dellft)
  • Philip PEARCE (UCL)
  • Teuta PILIZOTA (Edinburgh)
  • Marco POLIN ((UIB-CSIC))
  • Eleonora SECCHI (ETH Zürich)
  • Willem VANDERLINDEN (Edinburgh)
  • Andrea WEISSE (Edinburgh)
  • Julia YEOMANS (Oxford)