Monday, July 20, 2026
13:30 – 17:00
Registration & Information
15:00 – 15:10
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Guntars Kitenbergs, University of Latvia, Latvia
Session I: Keynote Talks
15:10 – 16:05
Patricia Bassereau, Institute Curie, France
Dynamics of Cytoskeletal Filaments Inside Cellular Tethers
16:05 – 17:00
Alexander Bershadsky, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Integrin Adhesion Complexes Sensing Substrate Nano-Topography
17:00 – 19:00
Ice Breaker
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
8:30 – 17:00
Registration & Information
Session II: Funding
9:00 – 9:45
Manana Sukhareva, NIH/NIBIB, USA
Next-Generation Biomedical Engineering: Opportunities and Challenges
9:45 – 10:00
Janne Salo, European Research Council, Belgium
European Research Council: Funding for Frontier Research
10:30 – 11:00
Coffee Break
Session III: Membranes and Interphases
11:00 – 11:30
Alison Patteson, Syracuse University, USA
Unraveling the Role of Vimentin in Cell Migration
11:30 – 12:00
Kandice Levental, University of Virginia, USA
Actively Driven Lipid Asymmetry Creates Unique Plasma Membrane Properties
12:00 – 13:00
Lunch
Session IV: Soft Matter Biophysics
13:00 – 13:30
Fred C. MacKintosh, Rice University, USA
Mechanical Phase Transitions and the Nonlinear Response of Biopolymer Matrices
13:30 – 14:00
Treena Arinzeh, Columbia University, USA
Directing Regeneration Through Fiber-Based Physical Cues
14:00 – 14:30
Daniel Blair, Georgetown University, USA
Flow Induced Stiffening in Extensile Active Matter
14:30 – 15:00
Marianne Grognot, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Just Keep Swimming: Structural Adaptations in Vibrio Species for Navigation in Complex Environments
15:00 – 15:30
Cristoph Schmidt, Duke University, USA
A Contracting Cytoskeletal Network Organizes into a Self-Centering Swimmer
15:30 – 16:00
Coffee Break
Session V: Short Talks I
16:00 – 16:20
Tomohiro Mimura, Kyoto University, Japan*
Proliferation-Driven Active Flows Induce Fluidization and Ordering in Multicellular Systems
16:20 – 16:40
Aleksandra Ardaševa, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland*
Topological Defects and Cell-Matrix Feedback Govern Myoblast Fusion
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
8:30 – 13:00
Registration & Information
Session VI: Short Talks II
9:00 – 9:20
Nuno Santos, University of Lisbon, Portugal*
From Erythrocyte-Based Cardiovascular Risk Assessment to the Development of Synthetic Erythrocytes
9:20 – 9:40
Joon Ho Kang, Seoul National University, South Korea*
Emergent Anisotropic Volume Regulation in Active Tissue Monolayers Revealed by High-Speed 3D Topographic Profiling
9:40 – 10:00
Serapion Pyrpassopoulos, Center for Molecular Biology of Plants, Germany*
Mechanical Tension Extends the Microtubule Lattice and Modulates Kinesin-1 Binding in an Isoform-Dependent Manner
10:00 – 10:20
Mingming Wu, Cornell University, USA*
Compression Induced Vortical Motion Within an Epithelial Spheroid
10:20 – 10:40
Guntars Kitenbergs, University of Latvia, Latvia*
Controlling Magnetic Field Induced Collectives of Magnetotactic Bacteria Near a Wall
10:40 – 11:30
Coffee Break
Session VII: Hydodynamics
11:30 – 12:00
Hannah Yevick, Brandeis University, USA
Structure, Reorganization, and Robustness of Large Multinucleated Cells
12:00 – 12:30
Konstantin Kornev, Clemson University, USA
Insect Antennae as Inspirational Self-Healing Fiber-Based Microfluidics
12:30 – 13:00
M. Taher A. Saif, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
It Needs Three, at Least, to Raise a Cellular Family
13:00
Lunch on Own & Free Time
Thursday, July 23, 2026
8:30 – 16:00
Registration & Information
Session VIII: Mechanobiology I
9:00 – 9:30
Katarzyna Pogoda, The Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics, Poland
Matrix Stress Relaxation Promotes Glioblastoma Cell Migration in a Ligand-Specific Manner
9:30 – 10:00
Rebecca Wells, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Solid Stress and Its Relationship to Cell and Matrix Organization
10:00 – 10:30
Anders E. Carlsson, Washington University of St. Louis, USA
How Molecular-Level Motor Forces Add Up to Large-Scale Stresses
10:30 – 11:00
Luciana Bruno, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Shaping And Moving Mitochondria: The Role of Cytoskeletal Forces
11:00 – 11:30
Coffee Break
Session IX: Mechanobiology II
11:30 – 12:00
Josef A. Kaes, University of Leipzig, Germany
Does Oncology Need the Physics of Cancer?
12:00 – 12:30
David Sept, University of Michigan, USA
Effects Of Tubulin Isotypes on Microtubule Function and Dynamics
12:30 – 13:00
Cynthia Reinhardt-King, Rice University, USA
Microenvironmental Regulation of Cellular Mechanometabolism
13:00 – 14:00
Group Photo & Lunch
14:00 – 16:00
Poster Session
16:00 – 18:00
Tour of Riga
18:00 – 20:00
Banquet Dinner at Gutenbergs Restaurant
Friday, July 24, 2026
8:30 – 13:00
Registration & Information
Session X: Engineered Systems
9:00 – 9:30
Timo Betz, Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany
Accessing Active Mechanics in Living Systems from Passive Particle Trajectories
9:30 – 10:00
Daniel Fletcher, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Environment-Driven Active Matter
10:00 – 10:30
Peter Galie, Rowan University, USA
Biophysical Approaches to Remodel and Perfuse Organoid Vasculature
10:30 – 11:00
Ayelet Lesman, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Micropatterned Cell-Gel Systems for Studying ECM Mechanical Remodeling and Cellular Interactions
11:00 – 11:30
Coffee Break
Session XI: Keynote Talk & Closing Remarks
11:30 – 12:25
David Weitz, Harvard University, USA
Filament Structure Determined by Protein Phase Behavior in Cells
12:25 – 12:30
Guntars Kitenbergs, University of Latvia, Latvia
Closing Remarks
* Contributed talks selected from among submitted abstracts