Thematic Network. NET-QUASI Workshop 4
Constructing Biological Complexity: Engineering Interactions Across Scales
Biological systems achieve remarkable functionality through interactions that span multiple scales, from molecular assemblies and cellular compartments to tissues and complex microenvironments. Understanding how these interactions give rise to emergent behaviors is a central challenge in contemporary bioengineering and synthetic biology.
This workshop brings together researchers exploring how biological complexity can be reconstructed, controlled, and harnessed through engineering approaches. Topics range from the biochemical reconstitution of cellular processes and the design of synthetic cellular systems to mechanobiology, collective cell behavior, immune microenvironments, and advanced therapeutic technologies.
Agenda:
09:30 – 09:40 Opening Remarks 09:40 – 10:35 Keynote Lecture I Prof. Dr. Germán Rivas (CIB Margarita Salas, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain) Title: Synthetic Cell Division via Biochemical Reconstitution
10:40 – 11:25 Invited Lecture I Dr. Margherita Staykova (Department of Physics, Durham University, UK) Title: Model lipid membranes for biophysical insights and for building living bio-hybrid systems
11:25– 12:00 Coffee Break
12:00 – 12:55 Keynote Lecture II Prof. Oskar Staufer (INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, Germany) Title: Building Immunity from the Bottom-Up: Synthetic Cell-Based Tumor Immune Microenvironments
13:00 – 13:30 Early Career IBEC Lecture M.Sc. Inés Macías Tarrio (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain) Title: Nanomotors Boost FGFR3-Targeted Therapy in Bladder Cancer
13:30– 14:30 Lunch Break
14:30 – 15:15 IBEC Lecture I Prof. Dr. Pere Roca-Cusachs (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain) Title: Undertanding and controlling mechanotransduction through synthetic biology
15:20 – 16:15 Keynote Lecture III Prof. Jerome Solon (Ikerbasque Research Professor, Instituto Biofisika (CSIC-UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain) Title: How to seal epithelial gaps: Mechanosensing and control of tissue mechanics during embryonic wound healing
16:15 – 16:30 Closing Remarks
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