Mathematics and Biology I: Morphometry, Morphogenesis and Mathematics
2026-02-23 09:00 - 2026-03-11 17:00 (America/New_York) | CMSA 20 Garden Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 United States
Mathematics and Biology I: Morphometry, Morphogenesis and Mathematics
Dates: February 23–March 11, 2026
Location: Harvard CMSA, Room G10, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA
Mathematics, Morphometry and Morphogenesis is a 3-week program at the Harvard CMSA, which will bring together researchers from a few different communities with a common aim—to understand shape and its development and evolution in living matter.
The aim is to bring together those interested in evolutionary and developmental biology, soft and active matter physics, and differential, discrete and computational geometry and topology, especially with a statistical bent. Although each of these fields has developed powerful tools and deep insights into form, function, and dynamics, opportunities for them to meet and interact are rare. This workshop aims to foster dialogue and discovery across these disciplinary boundaries—where paleontologists, developmental biologists, physicists, computer scientists and mathematicians can exchange ideas, identify shared challenges, and spark new collaborations. We envision this as a chance not only to showcase exciting advances within each domain, but also to chart new directions together at the intersection of evolution, development, and geometry.
The first week will have a few tutorials on developmental and evolutionary aspects of morphology, computational geometry, statistics and dynamical systems, along with a workshop-style meeting with research talks, setting the stage for longer stays and new collaborations over the following weeks.
Please note that this is an in-person event.

Week 1: Feb 23–27, 2026: Teaching lectures and research seminars
The teaching lectures span a broad range of topics, including statistical shape and morphometric analysis, dynamical systems, differential geometry, and current themes in morphogenesis, developmental biology, and evolutionary developmental biology in Week 1.

Week 2-3: March 2–5 & 10–11, 2026: Research seminars and discussion
Weeks 2 and 3 will cover development, regeneration, and evolution from quantitative, morphometric, and mathematical perspectives.

Topics include:
🧬 Organoids & Tissue-Engineered Models
🔬 Computational Imaging & Geometry
⚙️ Biophysics, Mechanics & Theory
🌱 Developmental Biology & Evo-Devo

Speakers:

Salem al-Mosleh, University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Vanessa Barone, Stanford University
Yohannes Bellaiche, Institut Curie
Alain Chedotal, Institut de la Vision
Gary P.T. Choi, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Stefano Di Talia, Duke University
Paul Francois, McGill University
Jianping Fu, University of Michigan
Thomas Gregor, Pasteur Institute & Princeton
Sahand Hormoz, Harvard
Helen James, Smithsonian Institution
Purnati Khuntia, Harvard
Allon Klein, Harvard Medical School
Elena Kramer, Harvard University
Thomas Lecuit, College de France & IBDM
Daniel Lew, MIT
L. Mahadevan, Harvard
M. Lisa Manning, Syracuse
Adam Martin, MIT
Sean Megason, Harvard
Noah Mitchell, University of Chicago
Akankshi Munjal, Duke
Nipam Patel, MBL Woods Hole
Olivier Pourquié, Harvard Medical School
Adrienne Roeder, Cornell University
Mattia Serra, UC San Diego
Suraj Shankar, University of Michigan
Anuj Srivastava, Johns Hopkins
Sebastian Streichan, UC Santa Barbara
Berta Verd, University of Oxford

Organizers:

Salem al-Mosleh, University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Vanessa Barone, Stanford
L. Mahadevan, Harvard
Akankshi Munjal, Duke
Olivier Pourquie, Harvard

Videos from the program are available at the CMSA Youtube Channel.
Mathematics and Biology Playlist
Week 1: Feb 23–27, 2026 – Workshop
Monday, 2/23/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:30 am: Tutorial: Anuj Srivastava (Johns Hopkins) — Advances in Statistical Shape Analysis of Biological Structures

10:30–11:00 am: Tea Break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Tutorial: Anuj Srivastava (Johns Hopkins) — Advances in Statistical Shape Analysis of Biological Structures

12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch: CMSA Common Room, catered

1:30–2:15 pm: Research Talk: Noah Mitchell (University of Chicago) — Mechanical canalization of 3D chiral morphogenesis

Tuesday, 2/24/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:30 am: Tutorial: Mattia Serra (UCSD) —Tissue Flows, Morphogen Transport and Positional Information: A Dynamical Systems Framework

10:30–11:00 am: Tea Break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Tutorial: Mattia Serra (UCSD) — Tissue Flows, Morphogen Transport and Positional Information: A Dynamical Systems Framework

12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch Break

1:30–2:15 pm: Research Talk: Paul Francois (McGill) — Waddington Landscapes in the Age of Machine Learning

Wednesday, 2/25/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:30 am: Tutorial: Olivier Pourquie (Harvard) — Segmentation and body axis

10:30–11:00 am: Tea Break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Tutorial: Akankshi Munjal (Duke) — Principles of Tissue Morphogenesis

12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch: CMSA Common Room, catered

1:30–2:15 pm: Research Talk: Allon Klein (Harvard) — Stochastic Cell State Transitions
2:15–3:00 pm: Research Talk: Salem Al-Mosleh (University of Maryland) — Linking Geometry, Evolution, & Development of Bird Beaks

Thursday, 2/26/26

In-person discussions

Friday, 2/27/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:30 am: Tutorial: Vanessa Barone (Stanford)

10:30–11:00 am: Tea Break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Tutorial: Vanessa Barone (Stanford)

12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch Break

1:30–2:15 pm: Research Talk: Alain Chedotal (Institut de la Vision) — Tridimensional analysis of human development

2:15–3:00 pm: Research Talk: Jianping Fu (University of Michigan) — Bioengineering Human Embryo and Organ Models

Week 2: March 2–5, 2026
Monday, 3/2/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:30 am: Research Talk: Thomas Lecuit (Collège de France) —Encoding neuronal shape in the stochastic dynamics of branching processes

10:30–11:00 am: Tea Break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Research Talk: Danny Lew (MIT) — Tuning the Cell Polarity Circuit: location and number of polarity sites
12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch: CMSA Common Room, catered

1:30–2:15 pm: Research Talk: Suraj Shankar (University of Michigan)
2:15–2:50 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Wenhui Tang (Harvard) — Wetting dynamics and mechanics in human vertebrate somite formation
2:50–3:05 pm: Tea Break
3:05–3:35 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Ludwig Hoffmann (Harvard) — Shape deformations through mechanochemical feedback
4:30–5:30 pm: CMSA Colloquium: L Mahadevan (Harvard) — Inverse problems in soft and active matter

Tuesday, 3/3/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:30 am: Research Talk: Adrienne Roeder (Cornell) — Mechanisms generating robustness in flower morphogenesis

10:30–11:00 am: Tea Break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Research Talk: Gary Choi (Chinese University of Hong Kong) — Quantifying shape variation using quasi-conformal geometry

12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch Break

1:30–2:15 pm: Research Talk: Akankshi Munjal (Duke) — Shaping the inner ear from the Outside in

2:15–2:50 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Sean McGeary (Harvard) — Uncovering principles of tissue organization with massively parallel cell-interaction assays
2:50–3:05 pm: Tea Break
3:05–3:35 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Oliver Inge (Harvard) —Combinatorial BMP4 and activin direct the choice between alternate routes to endoderm in a stem cell model of human gastrulation
3:40–4:10 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Mehrana Raeisian Nejad (Harvard) — Stress-shape misalignment in confluent cell layers

Wednesday, 3/4/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:15 am: Research Talk: Nipam Patel (Marine Biology Lab, Woods Hole) — Cellular Morphogenesis at the Nanoscale: Structural color in butterflies

10:15–11:00 am: Tea Break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Research Talk: M. Lisa Manning (Syracuse) — Sparse mesenchymal cell networks as a fluid under tension (and possibly as tunable matter)

12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch Break: CMSA Common Room, catered

1:30–2:30 pm: Research Talk: Research Talk: Stefano Di Talia (Duke) — Encoding Geometric Memory During Zebrafish Appendage Regeneration

2:30–3:00 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Suhrid Ghosh (Harvard) — One Cell After Another: Mechanical Counting in Reproductive Evolution

3:00–3:15 pm: Tea Break
3:15–4:05 pm: Research Talk: Sean Megason (Harvard) — Algorithms for Creating Form: How multiscale control systems make development robust
4:10–4:40 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Alexandru Bacanu (Harvard) — Forcing tissues into shape: mechanical development in the early human brain

Thursday, 3/5/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:30 am: Research Talk: Sebastian Streichen (UCSB) — Physics of Living Systems: From embryos to structured active matter

10:30–11:00 am: Tea Break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Research Talk: Berta Verd (University of Oxford) — Evolving phenotypic diversity

12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch Break

1:30–2:15 pm: Research Talk: Elena Kramer (Harvard) — Life in a box: Generating developmental complexity while bound by cell walls

2:20–2:50 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Beatrice Steinert (Brown) — Grids and Folds: Morphogenetic Mechanisms of Body Plan Organization

2:50–3:05 pm: Tea Break
3:05–3:35 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Rikki Garner (Harvard)
3:40–4:10 pm: Trainee Research Talk: Chaitra Prabhakara (Harvard) — One Morphogen, Diverse Patterns: Unraveling Muscle Formation Across the Embryonic Gut Axis

Week 3: March 10–11, 2026
Tuesday, 3/10/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:30 am: Research talk: Adam Martin (MIT) — Getting in shape: geometry, mechanics, and signaling in living epithelia

10:30–11:00 am: Tea break

11:00 am–12:00 pm: Research talk: Yohannes Bellaiche (Institut Curie) — How do cells and tissues sense their size to tailor their dynamics during development?
12:00–1:30 pm: Lunch Break

1:30–2:15 pm: Research talk: Sahand Hormoz (Harvard) — Learning the rules of morphogenesis

Wednesday, 3/11/26

9:00–9:30 am: Breakfast

9:30–10:15 am: Research talk: Thomas Gregor (Pasteur Institute & Princeton) — From Fluctuations to Form: Empirical Laws and Scaling Principles in Development

10:15–11:00 am: Research talk: Allison Kann (Harvard) — How to rebuild an organ: The cellular choreography of whole-body regeneration

11:00–11:30 am: Tea Break
11:30 am–12:00 pm: Research talk: Chandra Kuyyamudi Ashwinikumar (Harvard)
12:00–12:30 pm: Research talk: Purnati Khuntia (Harvard) — Role of Nucleus in Building Epithelial Tissues
1:00 pm: Lunch: CMSA Common Room, catered
