Physics of Life Symposium 2024 Background

Physics of Life Symposium 2025

Margaret Gardel, Ph.D.

Keynote Speaker

When

Monday, September 8, 2025

9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. PT

Where

San Francisco, CA
(and limited virtual livestream)

Living systems span multiple scales and levels of organization and display phenomena that often have no analog in the inanimate world. But for the last 500 years, physics has been focused on non-living matter. The physics of living systems is emerging as a new field, promising not only to reveal new insights about the inner workings of living systems, but also to push the limits of physics itself in the context of, for example, non-equilibrium physics and active matter research.

The Physics of Life Symposium, now the fourth such convening, aims to bring together researchers interested in leveraging the tools, approaches, and style of inquiry of physics to the complex and beautiful phenomena of life. Our objective is to nucleate a diverse and vibrant community of physical biologists in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the CZ Biohub SF as the convergence point for the exchange of ideas in an atmosphere that fosters collaborative research.

View videos from the first Physics of Life Symposium held in January 2023 here. Subsequent Physics of Life Symposia were held in October 2023 and September 2024.

Please register to attend by Sunday, August 31. Talk abstracts should be submitted by July 31. Space is limited; register early to avoid being placed on a waitlist!

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Margaret Gardel, Ph.D.

Gardel Lab

Margaret Gardel is the Horace B. Horton Professor of Physics and Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and a CZ Biohub Chicago Investigator. She is a member of the Institute for Biophysics Dynamics and currently serves as Director of the James Franck Institute. She joined the University of Chicago in 2007 after earning her Ph.D. from Harvard University with David Weitz and completing postdoctoral research as a Pappalardo Fellow at MIT and at Scripps Research Institute with Clare Waterman. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Her awards include a Packard Fellowship, Sloan Fellowship, NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, and Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics.

SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZERS

Adrian Jacobo, Ph.D.

Group Leader, Quantitative Tissue Morphogenesis at CZ Biohub SF

Hernan Garcia, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biophysics, Genetics, Genomics and Developmental Biology at UC Berkeley

PROGRAM

(ALL TIMES IN PACIFIC TIME)

MON MONDAY

SEPTEMBER 8

Registration

8:30 am

Registration opens

8:30–9:15 am

Light breakfast available

Welcoming remarks

9:15–9:30 am

Keynote address

9:30–10:15 am

Coffee break

10:15–10:45 am

Submitted 15-minute talks

10:45 am–12:15 pm

Speakers TBA

Lunch & poster session preview

12:15–1:30 pm

Lunch will be provided.

Submitted 15-minute talks

1:30–3:15 pm

Speakers TBA

Coffee break

3:15–3:45 pm

Submitted 3-minute lightning talks (TBA)

3:45–4:35 pm

Speakers TBA

Closing remarks

4:35–4:45 pm

Poster session & social hour

4:45–6:00 pm

Hors d’oeuvres and beer, wine, and non-alcoholic drinks will be provided.

SUBMITTED TALKS AND POSTERS

Students, postdocs, and early career researchers (non-PIs) are encouraged to share their work via a 15-minute talk or 3-minute lightning talk (plus poster), and all attendees are encouraged to present a poster. More details and the submission process are included during registration.

Key Dates:

For full consideration, talk abstracts should be submitted by the end of the day Thursday, July 31.
Posters submissions accepted until general registration closes (either Sunday, August 31 or earlier, if capacity is reached and a substantial waitlist has formed).