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May 3-8, 2026 - Bellairs Research Institute, Barbados
| Time | Event | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 - Sunday, May 3 | |||
| 17:00-17:30 | Registration | ||
| 17:30-18:00 | |||
| 18:00-18:30 | Information meeting | ||
| 18:30-19:00 | |||
| 19:00-19:30 | |||
| 19:30-20:00 | |||
| 20:00-22:00 | Social | ||
| Day 2 - Monday, May 4 | |||
| Topics | Colloids, Polymers, Self-Assembly | ||
| 8:30-9:00 | Opening | ||
| 9:00-9:30 | Juan De Pablo - Sustainable plastics design and characterization in the era of machine learning | ||
| 9:30-10:00 | Yin Yang - Dithioacetal Bonds as Versatile Building Blocks for Dynamic Polymer Materials | ||
| 10:00-10:30 | Coffee | ||
| 10:30-11:00 | Regine von Klitzing - Foams Stabilized by Soft Particles: A Multiscale Approach | ||
| 11:00-11:30 | Hartmut Löwen - Active Soft Matter | ||
| 11:30-12:00 | Eva Zununegui-Bru (PDF) / Bashar Al Hakeem (PHD) (15 minutes each) | ||
| 12:00-13:30 | Lunch | ||
| 13:30-16:30 | Break | ||
| 16:30-17:00 | Francesco Stellacci - Small Molecules Stabilisation of Proteins and Colloids | ||
| 17:00-17:30 | Laura Fabris - DNA and RNA Interactions with Nanostructured Metallic Surfaces | ||
| 17:30-18:00 | Coffee | ||
| 18:00-18:30 | Bruno Zappone - Self-Assembly of Defect Micropatterns in Smectic Liquid Crystal Films | ||
| 18:30-19:00 | Zvonimir Dogic - Colloidosome Assembly, Disassembly and Mechanics | ||
| 19:00-19:30 | Prashant Kumar - Good Vibrations from Programmable Aggregates of Chiral Nanoparticles | ||
| 19:30-20:00 | |||
| 20:00-22:00 | Social | ||
| Day 3 - Tuesday, May 5 | |||
| Topics | Natural/Biological Soft Materials | ||
| 8:30-9:00 | Peter Fratzl - Chemo-Mechanical Role of Water in Biological Materials | ||
| 9:00-9:30 | Raffaele Mezzenga - Understanding Nanoconfined Water | ||
| 9:30-10:00 | Gareth McKinley - Mucins and Mucilaginous Materials for Sustainable Frictional Drag Reduction at High Reynolds Numbers | ||
| 10:00-10:30 | Coffee | ||
| 10:30-11:00 | Adam Quotb - Optical Feedback Interferometry as a New Tool for Soft Matter and Soft Surface Sensing | ||
| 11:00-11:30 | Leila Deravi - Dissecting the Sequence-Property Relationships that Power Cephalopod Camouflage | ||
| 11:30-12:00 | Tobias Fietze (PDF) / Filipe Viana Ferreira (PDF) (15 minutes each) | ||
| 12:00-13:30 | Lunch | ||
| 13:30-17:30 | Break | ||
| 17:30-18:00 | Coffee | ||
| 18:00-18:30 | Franziska Jehle - Snail mucus: A Soft Material with Multiple Functions | ||
| 18:30-19:00 | Matt Harrington - Anatomy and Neuroregulation of a Biological Fiber Factory | ||
| 19:00-19:30 | Anna Rising - Spider Silk: A Biological Blueprint for Advanced Soft Matter | ||
| 19:30-20:00 | |||
| 20:00-22:00 | Social | ||
| Day 4 - Wednesday, May 6 | |||
| Topics | Soft Matter in Food | ||
| 8:30-9:00 | Patrick Ruehs - Exploiting Ice Crystal Growth in Food Suspensions | ||
| 9:00-9:30 | Elke Scholten - Engineering Protein Oleogels through Capillary Suspension Networks | ||
| 9:30-10:00 | Alejandro Marangoni - Collective Transitions in Edible Fats: A Boundary-Energetics View | ||
| 10:00-10:30 | Coffee | ||
| 10:30-11:00 | Alejandra Acevedo Fani - Matrix Effects in Protein-Rich Beverages and their Role in Nutrient Release During Digestion | ||
| 11:00-11:30 | Maya Davidovich Pinhas - The role of molecular assemblies in biphasic gel structure and properties | ||
| 11:30-12:00 | Ramon Rial (PDF) / Lucia Youssef (PDF) (15 minutes each) | ||
| 12:00-13:30 | Lunch | ||
| 13:30-17:30 | Break | ||
| 17:30-18:00 | Coffee | ||
| 18:00-18:30 | Frank Alexis - Geometry at the Interface: Membrane Structure as a Driver of Bacterial Adhesion | ||
| 18:30-19:00 | Enzo Martinelli - A Bio-Based Solution for Seismic Strengthening of Masonry Buildings: A Cross-Scale Study from Natural Fiber Characterisation to Global Structural Analysis | ||
| 19:00-19:30 | Pierangelo Metrangolo - Supramolecular Upcycling of Protein Materials | ||
| 19:30-20:00 | |||
| 20:00-22:00 | Social | ||
| Day 5 - Thursday, May 7 | |||
| Topics | Soft Materials in Healthcare | ||
| 8:30-9:00 | Tosh Chilkoti - Engineered Condensates for Medicine and Biotechnology | ||
| 9:00-9:30 | Hanadi Sleiman - DNA Self-Assembly: From Pathway Complexity to Nucleic Acid Delivery | ||
| 9:30-10:00 | Ali Miserez - Correlating Sequence/Property Relationships of Peptide Coacervates with their Intracellular Delivery Efficacy | ||
| 10:00-10:30 | Coffee | ||
| 10:30-11:00 | Carsten Werner - Multifactor Affinity Materials | ||
| 11:00-11:30 | Javier Montenegro - Conceptually New Supramolecular Systems for Membrane Transport and Beyond | ||
| 11:30-12:00 | Phil Messersmith - Dynamic Covalent and Supramolecular Polymers for Fetal Membrane Repair: Physical and Pharmacologic Approaches | ||
| 12:00-13:30 | Lunch | ||
| 13:30-16:30 | Break | ||
| 16:30-17:00 | Mingdong Dong - Controlled Self-Assembly and Disassembly of Amyloid Crystals | ||
| 17:00-17:30 | Anthony Guiseppi-Elie - Bioactive Electroconductive Hydrogels for Biosensors and Bioelectronics | ||
| 17:30-18:00 | Coffee | ||
| 18:00-18:30 | Bertrand Czarny - In vivo delivery of anti-cancer therapeutics using peptide coacervates | ||
| 18:30-19:00 | Sergio Moya - Supramolecular Assembly of Polyelectrolytes for Bio Applications | ||
| 19:00-19:30 | |||
| 19:30-20:00 | |||
| 20:00-22:00 | Conference Dinner | ||
| Day 6 - Friday, May 8 | |||
| 9:00-10:00 | Business Session and Discussion | ||
| 10:00-10:30 | Coffee | ||
| 10:30-17:30 | Networking and Discussion for International Collaboration | ||