Interdisciplinary challenges in the physics of complexity and life 2025 (IntCha25)

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
12:00 – 14:00	Registration
14:00 – 14:30	Introductory remarks
14:30 – 15:00	Bridging the gap between bulk rheology and local cell-matrix interaction via rheoconfocal microscopy Irene Nagle – TU Delft, Netherlands
15:00 – 15:30	Coupling pattern formation and active matter to create new morphological materials Amelie Chardac – Brandeis University, USA
15:30 – 16:00	TBC Carolina Trenado-Yuste – Princeton University, USA
16:00 – 16:30	Coffee Break
16:30 – 18:30	Poster Session 1
18:30 – 23:00	Dinner at EMBL

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
08:30 – 09:00	Coffee
09:00 – 09:45	TBC Kate Jensen – Williams University, USA
09:45 – 10:30	Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:00	Three sides of the same coin: Unifying context-dependencies of ecological interactions Oliver J. Meacock – University of Sheffield, UK
11:00 – 11:30	How can we model variation through random mutations in evolutionary processes? Nora Martin – Barcelona Collaboratorium, Spain
11:30 – 12:00	Self-organization of microbial ecosystems, from micro to macro Alberto Dinelli – University of Geneva, Switzerland
12:00 – 14:00	Lunch
14:00 – 14:30	Bayesian parameter inference for particle tracking Achille Joliot – AMOLF, Netherlands
14:30 – 15:00	Shape through gradients: Chemophoresis and deformations of active membranes Maitane Muñoz-Basagoiti – IST, Austria
15:00 – 15:30	Scaling behavior of nuclear wrinkling Nicolas Romeo – University of Chicago, USA
15:30 – 16:15	Coffee Break
16:15 – 17:15	Editor presentation
17:15 – 17:45	Discussions
17:45 – 19:15	Drinks

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
08:30 – 09:00	Coffee
09:00 – 09:45	Characterization of lab-based swarms of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes Stefania Melillo – CNR Rome, Italy
09:45 – 10:30	Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:00	Dividing cells: a minimal model for membrane constriction during cytokinesis Ivan Palaia – IST, Austria
11:00 – 11:30	Active particles knead three-dimensional gels into open crumbs Kristian Thijssen – Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
11:30 – 12:00	Reorganizing active nematics flows with thermotropic liquid crystals Olga Bantysh – University of Barcelona, Spain
12:00 – 13:30	Lunch
13:30 – 14:00	Learning in physical systems Menachem Stern – AMOLF, Netherlands
14:00 – 14:30	Multiscale modelling for unravelling plasticity and variability in animal behavior. Antonio Costa – Paris Brain Institute, Sorbonne University, France
14:30 – 15:00	Ghost channels and ghost cycles guiding long transients in dynamical systems Akhilesh Nandan – EMBL Barcelona, Spain
15:00 – 15:30	Coffee Break
15:30 – 17:00	Q&A session
17:00 – 19:00	Poster Session 2

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
08:30 – 09:00	Coffee
09:00 – 09:45	Learning the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of biological matter Pierre Ronceray – Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France
09:45 – 10:30	Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:00	Mechanochemical coupling during intestinal crypt morphogenesis Laura Capolupo – FMI, Basel, Switzerland
11:00 – 11:30	How to make decisions using a sparse olfactory signal: inference, navigation, experiments Nicola Rigolli – ENS Paris, France
11:30 – 12:00	Coarse graining bacterial diffusion to surface states in disordered media Henry Mattingly – Flatiron Institute, NYC, USA
12:00 – 13:30	Lunch
13:30 – 14:00	Optimal Control in Underdamped systems Marco Baldovin – CNR, Rome, Italy
14:00 – 14:30	Thermodynamic of information: probing the cost of an irreversible information processing using an underdamped memory Salambo Dago – University of Vienna, Austria
14:30 – 15:00	TBC Sarah Loos – Cambridge University, UK
15:00 – 15:30	Announcements
15:30 – 18:00	Excursion (Heidelberg)

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
08:30 – 09:00	Coffee
09:00 – 09:30	Bayesian parameter inference for particle tracking Simon Grosse-Holz – MPI-PKS and MPI-CBG, Dresden, Germany
09:30 – 10:00	Heterogeneous structure and dynamics of water in a hydrated collagen microfibril Maxime Vassaux – CNRS, Université de Rennes, France
10:00 – 10:30	How diversity matters in flexible networks Stefanie Heyden – ETH Zürich, Switzerland
10:30 – 11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:30	Bacterial locomotion: Insights from models, simulations, and robotics Maria Tatulea-Codrean – Cambridge, UK
11:30 – 12:00	Channeling cells in plants Patrick Li – IST, Austria
12:00 – 12:30	TBC Helena Massana-Cid – Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
12:30 – 13:00	Concluding remarks

On-site registration fees include admission, conference materials, meals and coffee breaks. Participants are expected to book and pay their own accommodation and travel expenses.

On-site Academia	€375
On-site PhD Student	€375
On-site Industry	€500

A letter to support your visa application will be issued, on request, once payment of the registration fee is confirmed. We recommend that you book your visa appointment as soon as possible, to avoid any delay with your visa application.

Accredited journalists may be eligible to register for complimentary press registration. Registrants may be required to provide accreditation or equivalent proof of press membership after registration. Please contact intCha for more information. Please note that we do not offer complimentary registrations for editors of scientific journals.

Confirmation and payment

Registration will be on a first come, first served basis. Your place can only be confirmed after payment of the registration fee. If you are added to our waiting list, please consider taking advantage of our offerings to participate virtually.

On-site participants: Types of payments accepted are international bank transfers and credit card payments. 

Abstract submission

Only participants registering to attend the on-site event are eligible to submit an abstract for poster presentation.

After registration you can submit your abstract via a separate link that will be provided in the email confirmation. Alternatively, you can access the link on the confirmation page directly after registering. The same login credentials are used for both processes.

Please note:

Abstract body: The limit of 2000 characters refers to manually typed text and excludes spaces. If an error occurs try using a different web browser (preferably Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox).

If you copy-paste the text into the form, hidden formatting might still be included which may cause the text to exceed the 2,000 character limit resulting in an error message. We recommend you clear all formatting before pasting in the text.

If you have special symbols in your text, make sure you are using Unicode characters, otherwise these will not be recognised.

Title: The title should not exceed 20 words. Only the first word of the title should start with a capital letter and the rest should be lowercase.

Authors and affiliations: Please fill in the author’s details as requested in the online form. The compulsory fields are: First Name, Last Name, Organisation Name (Affiliation or Company), Country and Email.

Kindly mark only one author in the role of First Author and please don’t forget to indicate who will be the Presenter.

Please enter your co-authors correctly via the system by adding accounts together with their organisation/institute. Do not copy-paste them into the body of the abstract text, as they will not be indexed in the abstract book.

Presentation types: When submitting your abstract, you can apply for a poster presentation. A selection process will take place with the results announced 2-3 weeks after the abstract submission deadline.

For detailed instructions on how to submit a conference abstract, follow the instructions provided in this video.

Please check our FAQs pages for further information on how to submit an abstract.

Financial assistance

Limited financial assistance is provided in the form of travel grants.

Application

On-site participants

You may apply for financial assistance when submitting your abstract. In your application you will be asked to answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.

Selection

The scientific organisers will select the recipients of travel grants during the motivation letter or abstract selection process. Results will be announced approximately 6 – 8 weeks before the event start date, however for some events this may be delayed. Selection results do not impact your admission to the meeting. Selection for travel grants is based on scientific merit, your current work or study location, the reasons for needing financial support, and the impact this event will have on your career.

Reimbursement

Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts (from travel costs) have been received.

Further details

View our list of external funding opportunities.

For further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.

Travel information

For travel information, please see here.

If you are travelling to the conference within Germany then you are eligible for the Deutsche Bahn ‘Event Ticket’ (called the ‘Veranstaltungsticket’ in German). This will result in a lower ticket price if your travel distance to Heidelberg is more than 100 km. You need to provide proof of your event attendance when purchasing the ticket.

For more information in English see here or in German see here.

You can book your ticket here.

Conference shuttle buses

Conference shuttle buses are free of charge for participants, and depart from designated bus stops near the hotels to EMBL and back, mornings and evenings.

View Conference shuttle bus stops and hotels in a larger map. Please note that not every bus stop will be used for every event.

Further details

Address: EMBL, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.

For more information about accommodation and travel, please refer to the FAQ page.

Catering

All meals and coffee breaks are included in the registration fee. Our catering staff will prepare a wide variety of vegetarian meals, meat and fish dishes, soups, pasta, fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as a variety of desserts.

Please wear your badge at all times when serving yourself.

No food or drinks are allowed in the auditorium.

Charging lockers

There are lockers available next to the stairs leading down into the Auditorium. You will find some of those equipped with sockets to charge your smartphone/tablet etc.

Electricity and charging station

In most places the electricity is 220 volts AC (50 cycles). An adaptor and a plug that fits the German socket may be needed for your appliances/laptop (i.e. American, Japanese, etc.). A USB charging station for electronic devices is available at the registration desk.

EMBL merchandise

If you are interested in purchasing EMBL merchandise (products presented in the glass display in the registration area), please email the EMBL shop to place an order.

Kindly note the EMBL shop is only open upon request and all purchases must be made in cash (Euros only).

Health and safety notes

Please read EMBL’s COVID-19 safety policy for on-site events.
Do not smoke in any EMBL building.
Eating and drinking is prohibited in the Auditorium and all laboratories.
Do not enter any restricted areas or the laboratories unless instructed to do so.

If first aid is required …

• The first aid room is located next to the ATC Registration Desk (room 10- 205).
• Dial the Emergency number 222 from any EMBL internal phone only.
• Where is the accident? What happened? How many injured?
• Emergency number 06221-387 7821 from mobile phones.
• Please report all accidents to the conference officer at the registration desk.

In case of fire …

• Press the nearest fire alarm button or the Emergency number 222 from any internal phone.
• A loud fire alarm will go off if an evacuation is required. On hearing the alarm leave the building immediately following the escape route and fire wardens and head to one of the meeting points
• Do not use the lifts.

Beyond first aid…

Please remember to bring your own medication, if needed, to the conference. Note that the next pharmacy is a 4-minute drive from the EMBL, but for many medications you will be required to see a doctor to get a prescription.

Ensure in advance that your medical insurance will cover you during your visit in the event that you do need to see a doctor while in Heidelberg. In any case, the EMBL Course and Conference Office will assist you to get to the pharmacy and a doctor of your choice if necessary.

Internet

Wi-Fi is available on campus using the EMBL-Events network and the event specific password, which will be provided on site. The eduroam network (secure, worldwide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community) is also available.

Lost and found

‘’Lost and Found’’ items are kept at the registration desk until the end of the conference.

Luggage

There are lockers available on-site to store your luggage, which require a 2 EURO coin to operate. There is another luggage room on level E0, which is free to use but remains unlocked during the conference.

Nursing room

There is a nursing room available in the ATC Rooftop Lounge on level A29.

Photography

During the conference, an EMBL Photographer may be taking photos. If you would not like to appear in these, please inform the photographer or a member of the Course and Conference Office.

Room for prayer, yoga and meditation

There is a room for prayer, meditation and yoga located on level E0 behind the Auditorium. Please be respectful of others using the room.

Sightseeing

A variety of activities in Heidelberg can be found on the website of Heidelberg Marketing.

Travel to and from the venue

During the event, we provide conference shuttle buses to and from EMBL. In addition, there is the public bus 39A that serves the EMBL campus and taxis can be easily booked at any time. Information on the conference shuttle buses can be found on the individual event website and more detailed information on travelling to EMBL can be found on our Travel Information page.

Useful German expressions

Hello	Hallo
Goodbye	Auf Wiedersehen (formal) Tschüss (informal)
Good morning	Guten Morgen
Good afternoon	Guten Tag
Good evening	Guten Abend
Good night	Gute Nacht
I’m sorry	Es tut mir leid
Excuse me…	Entschuldigen Sie
How are you?	Wie gehts?
I’m fine thanks. And you?	Mir geht es gut , danke. Und Dir/Ihnen?
What is your name	Wie heißen Sie? (formal) Wie heißt Du? (informal)
My name is	Ich heiße…
Do you speak English	Sprechen Sie englisch?
I don’t understand	Ich verstehe nicht
Please speak more slowly	Können Sie bitte langsamer sprechen
Thank you	Dankeschön
Where is the toilet?	Wo ist die Toilette?
Please call me a taxi	Bitte rufen Sie mir ein Taxi
How do I get to….?	Wie komme ich zum/zur…..?
A beer/two beers please	Ein Bier/zwei Bier bitte
A glass of red/white wine please	Ein Glas Rot/Weisswein bitte
The menu, please	Die Speisekarte, bitte
Is there a local speciality?	Gibt es eine Spezialität aus dieser Gegend?
I’m vegetarian	Ich bin Vegetarier
It was delicious	Es war hervorragend
The bill, please	Die Rechnung, bitte
I have a headache	Ich habe Kopfschmerzen
I have a sore throat	Ich habe Halsschmerzen
My stomach hurts	Ich habe Magenschmerzen
I’m allergic to	Ich bin allergisch gegen
I need a doctor who speaks English	Ich brauche einen Arzt, der englisch spricht

Please find additional information including FAQs, terms and conditions, COVID-19 safety policy and travelling to EMBL on our Information for participants page.

COVID-19 information for on-site events at EMBL Heidelberg can be found in our COVID-19 FAQs.