Provisional Program
Tuesday, 7 July 2026
18:00 Welcome Reception
Wednesday, 8 July 2026
8:30 Registration
09:00 Opening remarks
09:15 HFSP Nakasone Award Ceremony
09:30 HFSP Nakasone Award Lecture
by Erin Shuman, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany, HFSP Nakasone Awardee 2026
10:30 COFFEE BREAK
11:00 Oral Session 1
• In tune with the moon: the evolution of moon-controlled timing systems from the surface to the deep sea by Kristin Tessmar-Raible, University of Vienna
• The social origins of rhythm: from cognitive neuroscience to marine mammal fieldwork by Andrea Ravignani, Sapienza University of Rome
• How a single cell shapes a shoot by Teva Vernoux, ENS de Lyon
• RNA-interactome capture isolates a bacterial effector that modifies host messenger RNA to promote virulence by Frederic Allain
12:20 LUNCH
13:30 Oral Session 2
• New kids on the block: how denovo emerged micropeptides rewire cellular networks by Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis, ETH Zurich
• Blue iridescence coevolves with colour vision and flight in morpho butterflies by Vincent Debat, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN)
• Using marchantia polymorpha for visualizing life in four dimensions by Zohar Meir, Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology
• Illuminating microbial communication networks: the phycosphere lab by Christophe Coudret, CNRS Université de Toulouse
• When the weaker team outperforms the stronger one: a reinforcement learning and complex systems analysis by Miguel Ruiz-García, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
15:10 Poster Teaser Talk 1
• Spatial organization of gut microbes and its impact on host–microbe interactions by Inez Roegiers, Imperial College London
• Integrative structural analysis defines how lrpap1 modulates ligand binding in lrp2 by Karthik Ramanadane, HUMAN TECHNOPOLE
• Cell fate memory is heritable but transient and reversible by Nitu Kumari, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• Calcium-responsive liposomal nanoparticle reporters for amplified molecular MRI of extracellular calcium by Vinay K Sharma, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• Unravelling the mechanism of schistosome egg migration in a complex host environment by Lucy Ochola, Centre for Research and Therapeutics and Institute of Primate Research
• Conserved and lineage-specific mechanisms drive chromatophore differentiation in reptiles by Pierre-Yves Helleboid, University of Geneva
• A new mechanism of rapid, reversible colour change in reptiles by Devi Stuart-Fox, The University of Melbourne, Australia
• Synthesis of hormone-like bacterial signaling molecules and probes to examine gut-brain dialogues by Michael M. Meijler, Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev
• Slc33a1 exports oxidized glutathione to maintain endoplasmic reticulum redox homeostasis by Shanshan Liu, The Rockefeller University
• Structural ontogeny of protein-protein interactions by Aerin Yang, EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
15:40 Poster Session
19:00 HFSP Awardees Meeting Dinner
Thursday, 9 July 2026
08:30 Oral Session 3
• Intracellular voltage control of decision-making during cell migration by Pablo J. Sáez, University Medical Center Hamburg- Eppendorf | UKE
• Experimentally evolving cellular miniaturization by Marco Fumasoni, Gulbenkian Institute of Molecular Medicine (GIMM)
• Meat, minds, and molecules: overcoming fundamental analytical challenges in isotopic measurements of fossil amino acids by
Caj Neubauer, University of Colorado - Boulder
• Unravelling the mechanism of schistosome egg migration in a complex host environment by Kennedy Okeyo, Purdue University
• Disentangling microbiome effects on plant development and life history by Alejandra Hernandez Teran, University of California, Irvine
10:10 COFFEE BREAK
10:40 Oral Session 4
• The architecture of photosynthesis by Anja Geitmann, McGill University
• Shiny signalling: the production, detection and neurobiological processing of brilliant colours by Casper Van Der Kooi, University of Groningen
• Neurogenic mechanisms in the largest invertebrate brain by Jessica Stock, Harvard University
• Pigment content, gene expression and organelle function in vertebrate pigment cells by Athanasia Tzika, University of Geneva
• A switchable optochemical RNA tool for spatial control and immunomodulation of local translation in microglia by Kathrin Leppek, University of Bonn, University Hospital Bonn
12:20 Poster teaser Talk 2
• Enzyme entrapment and visualization in metal-organic frameworks by Orysia Zaremba, Enamine Scientific Research Institute
• Osmotic potential drives lumenogenesis during embryonic mouse pancreas and stomach development by Augusto Ortega Granillo, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics/Physics of Life Excellence Cluster TU Dresden
• Harmony in dynamics - exploring emergent cooperation through participatory art by Uri Hershberg
• Decoding enhancer-mediated gene regulation during male germline development by Masahiro Nagano, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• The origin of synaptic neurotransmission in animals by Jacob Musser, Yale University
• Drivers for transport in the gastroascular network of the jellyfish aurelia aurita by Annemiek JM Cornelissen, CNRS & Université Paris Cité
• Dissecting directional and lateral dynamics in intracellular cargo transport using minflux by Farha Naaz, University of Warwick, UK
• Deciphering circuit mechanisms of cognition with larval zebrafish by Ryosuke Tanaka, RIKEN Center for Brain Science
• Exploring bacterial antiphage immunity by phage range expansion by Jacob Bobonis, University of Vienna
• Decoding the mechanisms of condensate-membrane interactions in changing cellular environments by Dragomir Milovanovic, Charite -Universitätismedizin Berlin
12H50 LUNCH
14:00 Keynote Lecture by Francisco Barrantes
15:00 Oral Sessions 5
• Real-time single-molecule imaging in zebrafish embryos uncovers non-canonical translation by Maelle Bellec, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research
• Enhancing tropical tree-ring detection using a semi-automated swir hyperspectral imaging pipeline by Muhammad Hassaan Farooq Butt, Norwegian University of Life Science (NMBU)
• Coupled chemical memory and computation at the single-molecule level by Duhan Toparlak, University of Oxford
16:00 COFFEE BREAK
16:30 Oral Session 6
• Charting the origin, diversity and biogeography of small proteins in the global ocean microbiome by Samuel Miravet-Verde, ETH Zurich
• Assembly, mechanics and growth of plant cell walls by Pauline Durand-Smet, Universite de Paris Cite
• Unraveling the layers of complexity underlying bacteria-plasmid interactions by Shai Pilosof
• Colour stimulus detection against a visually noisy background by Darrell Kemp, Macquarie University
• Illuminating orphan gpcr signaling by novel biochemical approaches by Hiroyuki Okamoto, University of California, San Francisco, California, US
18H10 Poster Session 2
Friday, 10 July 2026
8:30 Oral Session 7
• Molecular checkpoint for quality control in flagellin sialylation by Patrick Viollier, University of Geneva
• An ancient monoaminergic signaling system coordinates contractility in a nerveless sponge by Rong Xuan (Roy) Zang, Yale University
• Life in the maze: microclimate variability contributes to the local coexistence of fynbos ants by Tom Rhys Bishop, Cardiff University
• A synthetic epigenetic circuit produces noise-driven heritable oscillations by Amith Zafal Abdulla, Brandeis University
• System-wide flow dynamics in developing biological networks by Eleni Katifori, University of Pennsylvania
10:10 COFFEE BREAK
10:40 Oral Session 8
• Mosquito-borne human pathogenic viruses use fundamentally different membrane interactions in insect versus mammalian cells by Gisa Gerold, Medical University of Innsbruck
• Bloom-in-a-lab: self-organised active transport mitigates nutrient constraints in algal blooms by Anupam Sengupta, Luxembourg University
• Tracing the evolutionary origins of RNA-binding protein networks: giardia as a model for basal eukaryotic innovation by Aaron Jex, WEHI
• Immunity and selfishness in genomic variability hotspots of Arabidopsis thaliana by Gal Ofir, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen
12:00 Poster Teaser Talk 3
• Biological clock(s) in deep-sea mussels by Audrey Mat, University of Vienna (Austria)
• Why don't we get more cancer? A tissue-level paradox in oncogenic cell fate by Felipe Rodrigues, The Rockefeller University
• Unravelling the role of proboscis mechanosensory neurons in aedes aegypti blood feeding behavior by Irene Arnoldi, Radboud University Medical Center
• Translation rewiring during embryonic diapause by Ida Marie Astad, Jentoft Research Institute for Molecular Pathology (IMP)
• Recording the history of cell-cell interactions in vivo by Costanza Borrelli, The Rockefeller University
• A quantitative in vitro approach to virus infection by Paul Soudier, University of Minnesota
• Trapping targets of dynamic translation to identify novel cellular “band aids” by Olena Zhulyn, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
• Resurrecting the origins of tyrosine kinase activity by Pau Creixell
• Illuminating mesophyll microstructure in the context of leaf macrostructure: leaf gas diffusion dynamics across diverse forms by
Nancy Walker, Yale University
• Pili for nanowires: single-cell imaging of bacterial respiration via extracellular electron transfer correlated with genetic, biochemical, and biophysical studies identify a new hybrid type 4 pilus/type 2 secretion system for cytochrome nanowires by Nikhil Malvankar, Yale University
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Oral Session 9
• The role of lipid physical properties for the multifunctionality of insect cuticular hydrocarbons by Florian Menzel
• Experimental misshapes, mistakes and misfits: sporomorph malformations and mass extinctions by Barry Lomax, University of Nottingahm
• Inverse lactation: larval secretions control reproductive division of labour in ants by Adria C. LeBoeuf, University of Cambridge
• Dark oxygen production: an overlooked process in earth's hidden ecosystems by S. Emil Ruff, The Marine Biological Laboratory
• Investigating intermittent buzzing in buzz-pollination via bee-scale micro-robotic shakers and pollen release studies by Noah Jafferis, UMass Lowell
15:10 Final Remarks
15:15 Poster Session 3
17:30 Farewell Reception