Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting | Ascona 2026

Mechanobiology of Infection

Program Schedule

Mechanobiology of Infection Ascona, Switzerland June 7-11, 2026 PROGRAM

Sunday, June 7, 2026

16:00 – 19:00

Registration/Information

Reception Desk

17:00 – 17:15

Welcome and Opening Remarks Daria Bonazzi, Institut Pasteur, France

Session I

Mechanics of Bacterial Collectives Chair: Vasily Zaburdaev, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany Jing Yan, Yale University, USA Single-Cell Imaging of Microbial Communities Across Different Spatial and Temporal Scales Vivek Thacker, Heidelberg University, Germany * Mechanobiology in Tuberculosis: How the Emergent Mechanical Resilience of Cords Influences Infection and Antibiotic Therapy Fan Jin, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, China Mechanical Compression Activates Camp Signaling in Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

17:15 – 17:45

17:45 – 18:00

18:00 – 18:30

18:30 – 18:15

Laure Le Blanc, EPFL, Switzerland * Bacteria Tune Collective Navigation by Mechanosensing Collisions

18:15 – 19:00

Flash Poster Talks

19:00 – 20:30

Dinner

Sala Luce

20:30 – 22:00

Poster Session I

Sala Balint

Monday, June 8, 2026

8:30 – 17:00

Registration/Information

Reception Desk

8:45 – 9:00

Welcome Address from CSF

Session II

Mechanics in Host-Microbe Interactions Chair: Effie Bastounis, University of Tübingen, Germany

9:00 – 9:30

Rebecca Lamason, MIT, USA Breaking and Entering: How Rickettsia Forces Its Way Across Cellular Barriers Teuta Pilizota, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Mechanical Properties of Escherichia Coli Envelope, and Efforts to Observe These in Infection-Relevant, Host-Like Environments

9:30 – 10:00

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