Friday, May 29, 2026
Session 1 (9:00AM - 10:25AM)
Marsh Auditorium (260 Whitney Ave, YSB C-level)
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 9:00-9:05 |
Damon Clark, Director, QBio Institute, Professor of MCDB, Physics & Neuroscience Welcome Address |
| 9:05 -9:30 |
Christopher Lynn, Assistant Professor of Physics Simple input-output dependencies explain neuronal activity |
| 9:30-9:45 |
Natalia Matos, INP Ph.D. Student, Clark Lab Visual circuits for evasive behavior in flies |
| 9:45-10:10 |
Kathryn Miller-Jensen, Professor of Biomedical Engineering Opposing autocrine feedbacks enable adaptation in the collective inflammatory response |
| 10:10-10:25 |
Arlind Kacirani, CEE Ph.D. Student, Haji-Akbari Lab Do all paths lead to Rome? Insights from free energy calculations and biomolecular simulations |
Coffee Break (10:25AM – 10:40AM)
Outside of Marsh Auditorium (260 Whitney Ave, YSB C-level)
Session 2 (10:40AM – 12:00PM)
Marsh Auditorium (260 Whitney Ave, YSB C-level)
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 10:40-11:05 |
Purushottam Dixit, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Why do biological computations consume energy? |
| 11:05-11:20 |
Roy Zang, MCDB Ph.D. Student, Musser Lab An ancient monoaminergic signaling system coordinates contractility in a nerveless sponge |
| 11:20-11:45 |
Hao Yuan Kueh, Associate Professor of Immunobiology Stochastic epigenetic control of immune cell fate decisions |
| 11:45-12:00 |
Diana Valverde Mendez, Postdoc, Yan Lab Heterogeneous stress response in developing bacterial biofilms |
Lunch (12:00PM – 12:45PM)
QBio Institute Common Space, C-Level of YSB (260 Whitney Ave)
Poster Session (12:45PM – 1:45PM)
Outside of Marsh Auditorium (260 Whitney Ave, YSB C-level)
| Poster # | Presenter | Lab | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JS Benny Tai | Postdoc, Yan Lab | Spontaneous phenotypic sorting and bet-hedging in developing biofilms |
| 2 | Huihong Li | Graduate Student, Levenstein Lab | Neuron Spike Irregularity Supports Computation Under Homeostasis |
| 3 | Lam Vo | Graduate Student, Emonet Lab | Coordinated expansion and virulence during collective migration |
| 4 | Kee Myoung (Chris) Nam | Postdoc, Yan Lab | Conformational dynamics of exopolysaccharides dictate Vibrio cholerae biofilm mechanics. |
| 5 | Farrah Mohammed | Graduate Student, Zhou Lab | Spatiotemporal Transcriptomics of Traumatic Brain Injury and Development of Membrane Nanovesicles for Edema-Targeted Therapeutics Discovery |
| 6 | Ivan Surovtsev | Research Scientist, LusKing Lab | Mechanical Communication Across the Nucleus: Chromatin-Mediated Long-Range Loci Dynamics Correlation |
| 7 | Allison Cairns | Graduate Student, Kuan Lab | Molecularly resolved connectomic circuit architecture with pan-ExM |
| 8 | Arthur MacKeith | Graduate Student, O’Hern Lab | Spongy Mesophyll Development |
| 9 | Fotios Avgidis | Postdoc, Emonet Lab | Distinct Adaptation Strategies in Collective and Planktonic Migration Reveal a Chemotactic Division of Labor |
| 10 | Raibat Sarker | Graduate Student, Davis Lab | Transfer Free Energies of Small Protein Mutants in Cellular Environments |
| 11 | Nghia Le | Graduate Student, Kuan Lab | Functional connectomics of triadic motifs in the mouse visual thalamus |
| 12 | Dana Dayan | Graduate Student, Gerstein Lab | DEPP: Predicting Drug Binding Affinity Through Dynamic Protein Conformational Ensembles |
| 13 | Gabriel Araujo | Postbac, Chung Lab | A physics-informed geometric model for inferring spatial metabolic divisions of labor |
| 14 | Yu Fu | Graduate Student, Machta Lab | Signal Transduction through Nonequilibrium Nucleation of Surface Condensates |
| 15 | Lucy Sullivan | Graduate Student, Dixit Lab | A new biophysical tradeoff: protein biochemistry imposes functional limitations on signaling networks |
| 16 | Peter Agoba | Postbac, Colon-Ramos Lab | Quantitative Analysis of Coupled Sensory Transduction and Neurotransmitter Co‑Transmission |
| 17 | Alex Calabrese | Graduate Student, O’Hern Lab | Computational Investigations of Changes in Protein Structure Caused by Single Amino Acid Mutations |
| 18 | Braedyn Au | Graduate Student, Clark Lab | Visual inputs to the Drosophila head direction neural circuit |
| 19 | Taekyung Kang | Graduate Student, Lake Lab | RAVIOLI: Real-time Acquisition Via Integrated Oxy/deoxy-hemoglobin, caLcium, and fMRI |
| 20 | Elizabeth Blackmore | Graduate Student, Ogbunu Lab | Transoceanic pathogen transfer in the age of sail and steam |
| 21 | David Silva Sanchez | Graduate Student, Lederman Lab | Physics-constrained cryo-electron microscopy ensemble optimization using individual particles |
| 22 | Vincent Tse | Graduate Student, Che Lab | Astrocytic encoding of neuronal activity in early Alzheimer’s disease |
| 23 | Ethan Dintzner | Graduate Student, Emonet Lab | Chemosensory responses of Vibrio cholerae revealed by live-cell FRET microscopy |
| 24 | Jing Yuan | Graduate Student, Jadi & Nandy Labs | Computational model reveals in differences in cooperative strategies in marmoset dyads |
| 25 | Naomi Brandt | Graduate Student, O’Hern Lab | Assessment of Scoring Functions for Protein-Protein Interaction Prediction |
| 26 | Swathi Nachiar Manivannan | Graduate Student, Ogbunu Lab | Deconstructing the study of fitness seascapes across scales of granularity |
| 27 | Viggy Vanchinathan | Postbac, Levenstein Lab | Egocentric, goal-directed navigation produces hippocampal-like representation in a deep RL world model |
| 28 | Harsh Vashistha | Postdoc, Clark Lab | Visual cue integration to detect approach in flies and humans |
| 29 | Jose Betancourt | Graduate Student, Machta Lab | Discrete turn strategies emerge in information-limited navigation |
| 30 | Mao Yasueda | Graduate Student, Kuan and Saxena Labs | Cortical Structural Constraints Shape Dynamical Regimes in Decision Making |
| 31 | Roey Yadgar | Graduate Student, Lederman Lab | SOLVAR:Fast covariance-based heterogeneity analysis with pose refinement for cryo-EM |
| 32 | Maya Harari | Graduate Student, Nourmohammad Lab | Adaptation and physical learning in the slime mold Physarum polycephalum |
| 33 | WuHeng | Graduate Student, Clark Lab | Afterimages drive a cross-species visual motion-reversal illusion in Drosophila |
| 34 | Ziling Chen | Graduate Student, Lederman Lab | The Catastrophic Failure of the k-Means Algorithm in High Dimensions and How Hartigan’s Algorithm Avoids It |
Session 3 (2:00PM – 3:45PM)
Marsh Auditorium (260 Whitney Ave, YSB C-level)
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 2:00 – 2:25 | Distribution of PEB Certificates & Service Awards |
| 2:25 – 2:50 |
Michael Murrell, Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Physics Energetic principles of biological assembly |
| 2:50 – 3:05 |
Sam Banks, Physics Ph.D. Student, O’Hern Lab Plant Epidermal Cell Lobe Formation Occurs via Cell Wall Wrinkling |
| 3:05 – 3:30 |
Kirstin Meyer, Assistant Professor of MCDB Condensates as logic gates for transcription factor signaling |
| 3:30 – 3:45 |
Matthew Leighton, Postdoc, Lynn & Machta Labs Optimal Position Encoding by Place Cells in the Hippocampus |
Coffee Break (3:45PM – 4:00PM)
Outside of Marsh Auditorium (260 Whitney Ave, YSB C-level)
Keynote Presentation (4:00PM – 5:00PM)
Marsh Auditorium (260 Whitney Ave, YSB C-level)
Victor Sourjik, Director, Max Plank Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
Physics meets physiology: multilevel regulation of bacterial motility
Closing Remarks (5:00PM – 5:05PM)
Marsh Auditorium (260 Whitney Ave, YSB C-level)
Damon Clark, Director, QBio Institute, Professor of MCDB, Physics & Neuroscience