Recently Salar attended an intensive EMBO course in Barcelona on Computational Modelling of Multicellular Systems. The program covered a range of widely used modeling approaches in computational biology, including gene regulatory networks, diffusion-reaction equations, finite element methods, agent-based modeling, and vertex models. It was a great opportunity to deepen understanding of these techniques and engage with researchers from across the field!

This year we went to Ojców National Park in Spring. It was enjoyable walk with a lot of activities and scientific discussions.

Maciej as Fulbright Fellow at ECU presents today at Duke University. The talk will cover mechanisms of pattern stabilization from both theoretical and applied side. Maciej will show how the recently identified class of analytically solvable models of domain formation can be applied to better understand fruit-fly and spinal cord development. Good luck Maciej!

We are co-organizing the 38^th Marian Smoluchowski Symposium on Statistical Physics, http://www.smoluchowski.if.uj.edu.pl/, that will take place in its regular, stationary form on 14 – 17 September in Kraków, Poland. The 38th Symposium continues the tradition of former meetings focusing on foundations and applications of statistical physics with special attention to soft matter, nonequilibrium fluctuations, and information processing. This year there will be a satellite workshop, Computational Neuroscience Academy (CNA 2025), designed to provide a course on the mathematical, physical, and machine learning techniques essential for neuroimaging data analysis. Remember to register. Looking forward to meeting you in Kraków!

Joanna as part of Jagiellonian University team of 10 students with backgrounds in Biology, Biophysics and Chemistry got 2nd prize in undergrad category of highly prestigous competition at iGEM Grand Jamboree 2024. The project ‘PrymDetect: Engineering the SHERLOCK Platform for Golden Algae Detection’ (https://2024.igem.wiki/ju-krakow/index.html) aims not only to improve the monitoring of water bodies prone to Prymnesium parvum blooms, but also to mitigate their ecological and economic impacts. More at: https://jamboree.igem.org/2024/results. See also movie: https://video.igem.org/w/6nJCnJrC22vHXnGGiNiXL5. Congrats JU-team!

In October, Joanna began a year-long internship with the Michael Group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). Building on her background in circadian rhythmicity from her studies at Jagiellonian University, she is excited to explore these mechanisms through the lens of structural biology and biochemistry. As part of her master’s thesis in biophysics, Joanna will investigate how transcription factors interact with chromatin, gaining hands-on experience with cutting-edge techniques like cryo-electron tomography.

Last week Salar presented his research on Giersch International Conference: From Multiscale Models to Digital Twins taking place in FIAS (Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies). The talk covered recent results from Salar’s PhD project on pattern formation under different active and passive forces acting on the tissue formation. The meeting was also great opportunity for networking with theorists, computational experts and data scientists. We look forward for next mtgs in FIAS!

Our group actively participated in this years Marian Smoluchowski Symposium, https://smoluchowski.if.uj.edu.pl/. I have presented recent results on tissue fluidization in developing spinal cord. The talk was followed by poster session including Salar’s work on pattern formation in tissues with passive and active forces, and Helder’s new developments on formation of Turing patterns in the presence of multiple diffusing species. The conference was great opportunity to discuss projects ranging from pure statistical physics to applications in biological systems. We look forward to next editions!

Ajay Subbaroyan from Areejit Samal’s group at IMSc in Chennai visited our group to give seminar on design principles in Boolean models of gene regulatory networks. Ajay focused on identifying properties of different logical functions that determine final state of the network. In his seminar in the Enigmas of Chance series he combined lot of biological case studies to validate against computational results.

In mid May we attended conference Physics of Cell Fate Decision (PCFD2024) at ISTA, https://pcfd2024.pages.ista.ac.at/. Salar presented poster about pattern formation in tissues with heterogenous motility and rigidity, and Helder had a poster on new classes of multimodal Turing patterns. I gave a talk on dynamics of source formation in growing tissues. The event was great opportunity for networking. We hope to get back there in the next editions!