Dear EMBRIOnic People, 
Weekly announcements below, with new items, actions, and opportunities:


⭐ EMBRIO All-Hands Lab Feb. 23rd, 3-4PM
Tune in at this coming Monday's EMBRIO All-Hands Lab, Feb. 23rd, 3-4PM for guest speaker, Alexandria Volkening, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Purdue University, presenting "Data-driven modeling of cell behavior in biological patterns, informed by topological techniques" (Abstract below). Dr. Volkening's research focus includes modeling of complex systems and analysis of pattern formation. Learn more at her website www.alexandriavolkening.com. An updated semester presentation schedule for the all-hands lab time is below.

🆕 ❇️ EMBRIO Annual Retreat 2026 Summer School & Joint Symposium - June 23 - 26, University of Notre Dame
A joint EMBRIO BII NSF - Notre Dame (RECODE NSF) one day symposium "Advancing Morphogenetic Biosciences and Bioengineering” is slated for June 25th, preceded by a multi-day training June 23-24th(further details forthcoming). The Symposium will feature EMBRIO speakers, along with additional speakers from Notre Dame,  invited Key Notes, and research poster session. Friday June 26th is set aside for focused retreat activity for EMBRIO members. Hosted at University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, EMBRIO will organize and help provide transportation and lodging for Purdue members to attend, as well as reimburse travel for EMBRIO trainees from our partner institutions to participate. Stay tuned for release of registration and program details.


⭐ Catalyzing Small Teams for Grant Proposal Development: Thanks to all who shared topic ideas and interest in leading discussions and new proposals. Results to date are available on new tabs of the EMBRIO Investigators Proposals Google spreadsheet. You can add your details to any of the spreadsheets via the tabs at the bottom of the main sheet [or contact Brent: (laddb@purdue.edu )].

🆕 👀 Those keenly interested in the NIH P41 Centers for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering opportunity, please complete the online scheduling tool for a weekly time to meet, as well as an in-person session at Notre Dame.  An initial brainstorming log is available to enter your thoughts and ideas related to three primary technology, research, and development areas, along with previous meeting summary and additional data and information here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17J37EcLDNxugVeloi_QSRDp93tF_SbMh?usp=sharing


👀 Purdue EMBRIO Faculty: SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP (SURF)- Accepting project postings!

EMBRIO faculty at Purdue wishing to host a SURF student this summer, please post your research project(s) asap - and notify Brent (laddb@purdue.edu), as applicants window is open through February. Submit project postings here 

⭐ EMBRIO Data Management

Data management training materials developed by Scott Bolton for uploading PURR pages, OMERO image data, and raw data to Data Depot are available on the Institute website. You can also contact Beatriz Borrelly ( bborrell@purdue.edu ) for assistance with data management. Beatriz is in the process of contacting EMBRIO labs that have recent publications to aid in the preparation and upload of published data.


👀 Chicago Cytoskeleton Meeting Friday May 1st, 2026 Loyola University Chicago’s Water Tower Campus

Chicago Cytoskeleton Meeting Spring Meeting will be Friday, May 1st, 2026. Trainees have an opportunity to present a lightning talk, along with a poster session.



Guest Speaker, EMBRIO All-Hands Lab, Feb. 23rd, 3-4PM

Alexandria Volkening
Title: 
Data-driven modeling of cell behavior in biological patterns, informed by topological techniques
 
Abstract:
Many natural and social phenomena involve individual agents coming together to create group dynamics, whether the agents are drivers in a traffic jam, cells in a developing tissue, or locusts in a swarm. Here I will focus on the example of pattern formation in zebrafish, which are named for their dark and light stripes. Mutant zebrafish, on the other hand, feature different skin patterns, including spots and labyrinth curves. All of these patterns form as the fish grow due to the interactions of tens of thousands of pigment cells. The long-term motivation for my work is to help identify the alterations to cell interactions that lead to mutant patterns. Toward this goal, I will overview our work building agent-based models to simulate pattern formation and make experimentally testable predictions. Because stochastic, microscopic models are not analytically tractable using traditional techniques, I will also describe how we are applying topological data analysis and approximate Bayesian inference to quantify structure in messy, cell-based patterns and identify rules of behavior from data.
 
Alexandria Volkening
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy)
Purdue University
www.alexandriavolkening.com
 


Updated Spring 2026 Schedule: EMBRIO All-Hands Thrust Research Updates
Thank you, Research Thrust Leaders, for your available dates to present EMBRIO research updates this semester. Based on your availability, I've set the schedule as below. 
 
As a reminder, we are alternating bi-weekly meetings between 1) thrust level research updates and 2) focused working proposal teams discussion/writing groups. Two thrust level updates are scheduled at each research update meeting, and will need to limit each thrust project to ~25 minutes total (incl. Q/A/Disc). Please focus on the most integrative outcomes to date, key findings/challenges/next steps. Trainees and Research Staff are welcome and encouraged to present/co-present. 
 
Jan 26
Feb 23
Mar 23
Apr 20
May 18
June TBD
Ondrej Maxian, Notre Dame
Alexandria Volkening, Purdue
Mullins Lab
Deng Lab
Zartman Lab
Magana Lab
Gardner Lab
Kinzer-Ursem + Evans Labs
Staiger Lab
Iyer-Pascuzzi Lab


 

Purdue EMBRIO Faculty: SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP (SURF)- Accepting project postings!

Purdue’s SURF program invites faculty to mentor outstanding undergraduates in an 11-week paid summer research experience at the West Lafayette or Indianapolis campuses. 

By mentoring a SURF student, faculty help shape future researchers while contributing to student growth and professional development.

EMBRIO covers the PI amount of the internship cost and a housing stipend for non-Purdue students (your department and college, depending on the agreement, kick in the other 2/3 of the cost) 

Please let Brent know if you submit an EMBRIO project and indicate under the Centers/Institutes checkboxes that the project is an EMBRIO project. Submit project postings here 

 

 

EMBRIO Data Management

 

Data management training materials developed by Scott Bolton for uploading PURR pages, OMERO image data, and raw data to Data Depot are available on the Institute website. You can also contact Beatriz Borrelly ( bborrell@purdue.edu ), who is serving part-time with EMBRIO as Data Management Specialist, for assistance with your EMBRIO projects data management. 

 

 

Chicago Cytoskeleton Meeting Friday May 1st, 2026 Loyola University Chicago’s Water Tower Campus

 

The Spring edition of the Chicago Cytoskeleton Meeting will take place on Friday May 1st, 2026 at Loyola University Chicago’s Water Tower Campus. The meeting will run from approximately 1 PM to 7 PM Central Time.  This meeting will include a Keynote Lecture by Dr. Dyche Mullins (UCSF), Trainee talks (see below), and a Poster session. A registration portal will be provided in the coming months with the option to present a poster. Trainee talks will be selected by the Steering Committee from a Lightning Talk Competition. Details can be found on the website and submissions are due Monday, March 2nd.   

 




Brent T. Ladd, Senior Research Program Manager, EMBRIO Institute
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University
Office: Hall for Discovery Learning and Research, Ste. 203
207 S. Martin Jischke Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47907
laddb@purdue.edu