Thematic Network. NET-QUASI Workshop 3: Designing Life-like Function
Part of the IBEC Thematic Network “Quasi-living systems: Merge and Emerge” (NET-QUASI), this third workshop explores how life-like function can be designed into synthetic and hybrid systems. By merging molecular, material, and biological approaches, researchers are uncovering how responsiveness, adaptability, and collective behavior emerge across scales—from molecular assemblies and delivery systems to tissues that sense and reorganize.
This session gathers leading voices in synthetic biology, materials science, and mechanobiology to discuss how bridging the living and synthetic worlds can inspire a new generation of functional, adaptive systems.
Agenda
- 09:30 – Opening Remarks. Nina Kostina (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain)
09:40 – Keynote Lecture: Prof. Wilhelm T. S. Huck (Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands) “Towards Molecular Networks that Learn”
10:35 Invited Lecture: Dr. Benjamí Oller (IQS, Barcelona), “Engineering conditionally active proteins and synthetic receptors for precision delivery”
11:20 – IBEC Lecture: Dr. Subhadip Ghosh, “Motility of Enzyme-Powered Protocells”
11:55 – Coffee Break
12:25 – Keynote Lecture: Prof. Kerstin Göpfrich (Center for Molecular Biology, Heidelberg University, Germany), “RNA design for quasi-living cellular systems”
13:10 – IBEC Lecture: Prof. César Rodríguez-Emmenegger, “Phagocytic Synthetic Cells: Non-Living Predators to Fight Bacteria”
14:00 – Lunch Break
14:50 – Early Career IBEC Lecture: M.Sc. Aina Albajar, “Studying the mechanical regulation of nucleocytoplasmic transport using Single Molecule Tracking”
15:25 – IBEC Lecture: Prof. Xavier Trepat, “Synthetic mechanobiology of epithelial shape and migration”
16:10 – Closing Remarks. Nina Kostina
