Moumita (Mo) Das
Theoretical Biological and Soft Matter Physicist. Interested in all things networks-related in biological physics and physical biology. My views here are my own.
- This past week, @wallaceucsf.bsky.social and I co-organized "Expanding the Palette of Mathematics in Biology" workshop at the @nitmb.bsky.social -- an experiment in interdisciplinary Math + Bio engagement and ideation beyond traditional approaches. www.nitmb.org/expanding-pa...
- Over three days, participants with math and biology backgrounds across career stages came together. We opened with 90-second lightning talks, followed by structured pairwise conversations and open discussions that led to working groups focused on developing new ideas.
- Additionally, short tutorials in morphogenesis, ecology, category theory, network theory, and algebraic topology also helped anchor discussions across very different perspectives.
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View full threadThanks to all the participants for the energy and ideas they brought to the workshop, and to the NITMB leadership (especially, Tuca Auffinger and Joe Hibdon) and staff (especially, Penelope Johnson). I should also say that the NITMB space itself is exceptional and the views are breathtaking.
- I’m deeply honored and humbled to have been elected to the APS Division of Biological Physics (DBIO) Chair Line. DBIO has been my chosen family and professional home for many years, and I’m grateful and excited for the opportunity to serve our wonderfully thoughtful, vibrant community in this role!
- Looking forward to hosting the awesome @haicenbiophy.bsky.social at this Friday's BPPB seminars for an exciting talk!! If you'd like to attend but don't have the zoom details, DM me.
- Please join BPPB Seminars on Friday Dec 12 at 11 am US Eastern Time for an exciting talk by Haicen Yue on How Scattered Active Players Shape the Jamming of the Crowd. For more information, and to sign up for our email list please visit sites.google.com/view/bppb-se...
- Dear colleagues, if you are at the Cell Bio 2025, come check out posters by Sam Silliman (board B347) and Ulises Diaz (board B359)-- presenting work with @wallaceucsf.bsky.social and me -- in the Physical Properties of the Cytoplasm session in Exhibit Hall DE today from 2-3.45 pm.
- Our manuscript on Dps:DNA condensates is now live on bioRxiv! With @abbondanzieri.bsky.social @meyerroc.bsky.social Check it out at: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Super excited for today's BPPB seminar... happening now!
- I am honored and excited to present our recent work on mixed AND asymmetric membranes at @bppbseminar.bsky.social! 🧪 My online talk will be this Friday, 11/21/25, 11am US Eastern time. Many thanks to the organizers for putting this together! More details here: sites.google.com/view/bppb-se...
- It was such a pleasure hosting Anne Meyer from UR for today’s Physics Colloquium. Her talk was fantastic, and I learned so much. The Q&A that followed—including the many thoughtful questions from students —was great too. Anne and me chatting over ginger tea afterwards + the talk announcement
- Dear biophysics friends — the APS DBIO elections are now open! If you are a member, check for an email from directvote.net with the ballot. Please take a moment to vote — our community thrives when we show up. Candidate statements and bios are on the ballot (and I’m on it for Vice Chair).
- This weekend was peak fall at Letchworth State Park, and the weather couldn’t have been better on Sunday — perfect for our annual Lab (+ friends) hike.
- Excited to be hosting the BPPB seminar tomorrow after a while (last semester I was teaching during seminar hour). Looking forward to a stimulating talk by Gautam Reddy (Princeton University) on the physics of learning. Hope to see some of you there
- Please join BPPB Seminars on Friday October 10 at 11 US Eastern time for an exciting talk by Gautam Reddy @gautamreddy.bsky.social on "Mechanisms for learning to learn in small transformer models". For more details, please visit sites.google.com/view/bppb-se...
- Reposted by Moumita (Mo) DasAre you a mathematician or biologist interested in exploring the potential of mathematical biology? Join us for our upcoming workshop, Expanding the Palette of Mathematics in Biology! Application 🔗 in reply ⬇️
- Last night we celebrated my postdoc mentee Jonathan’s send-off! 🎉 An amazing colleague and friend to our lab, his research in the Lab spanned cartilage mechanics, cytoskeletal composites & rigidity transitions, with papers in Science Advances, PNAS Nexus, Soft Matter, Phys Rev Res. We will miss him!
- Just back from the 2025 Soft Matter GRC = soft matter summer camp. Talks, discussions & power hour were 🔥! Huge congrats and thanks to Jenny Ross & Meredith Betterton for co-chairing and making it a big success. In 2 yrs I’ll co-chair w/ Eric Dufresne — can't wait! Photo: with GRC and GRS chairs
- Super excited about this new grant from the NSF–Simons NITMB with Wallace Marshall (UCSF)! Our project will use tools from abstract algebra and graph theory to model how mitochondrial networks form, reorganize, and function. #MathBio #Mitochondria #AbstractAlgebra #NITMB #InterdisciplinaryResearch
- Representing mitochondrial dynamics with abstract algebra Explore new NITMB-Supported Research from Wallace Marshall (Professor, University of California, San Francisco) and Moumita Das (Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology)! Learn more at www.nitmb.org/supported-re...
- Low key lab dinner last night to celebrate Keegan’s successful MS thesis defense and Youssof’s successuful PhD 2nd year presentation. Action shots from Youssof’s talk earlier in the day.
- My Physics MS mentee Keegan Tonry defended their thesis today with a clear, thorough talk on spatiotemporal restructuring in active cytoskeletal composites. It’s been great to see them grow and thrive as a researcher and bring this work to fruition. Congrats, Keegan!
- At the Hactive Matter 2025 Workshop (Hackathon) at UCSB, with my collaborators Rae Robertson-Anderson, Megan Valentine, Ryan McGorty and student/postdoc participants
- Reposted by Moumita (Mo) DasPlease join BPPB on Friday July 18 at 11 US Eastern time for talks by Lailai Zhu (Endowing Intelligence in Bionic Active Particles) and Sohan Kale (Mapping Cellular Tractions on Nanonets). For more information and to join our email list, please visit sites.google.com/view/bppb-se....
- Just wrapped up 5 intense days at an NIH Innovation Lab on synthetic biology + cancer initiation. Hadn’t been in one in 4 years, forgot how stimulating they can be. Nothing like the thrill of bold, cross-disciplinary ideas with scientists you’ve just met—who may well become your new collaborators
- I’ve recently stepped into the role of Director of our Physics PhD program. Colleagues who’ve served as PhD Program Directors or DGS — I’d love your thoughts on what worked, what didn’t, and what you wish you’d known starting out. Comment, email, or tell me next time we talk (in person or on Zoom).
- Reposted by Moumita (Mo) DasI put together a rough presentation on how US science funding works, for my & neighboring research groups, mainly aimed at grad students. Lots of neat graphs! (Each could be a story of its own...) Quiz questions! I pasted it into a blog post: eighteenthelephant.com/2025/06/11/a...
- Envious that colleagues at the TSRC workshop “Self-assembly in non-equilibrium systems” are hiking Bridal Veil Falls—but with my talk this afternoon, I stayed back to edit slides, + make a Broader Impacts highlight for NSF. I did hike Sunday, so just missing the “talking science while hiking” part!
- End-of-semester Das Lab dinner tonight. I asked what we should toast to, and one of my mentees said, ‘To science.’ Couldn’t have picked a better one."
- Had a great time speaking at @RITOsher about our work on cartilage shear mechanics and better models for insight into osteoarthritis. Packed room, lots of thoughtful questions, great conversations— thank you organizers and the NSF. Couldn't have done it #WithoutNSF. www.rit.edu/osher/events...
- Some very happy lab news from this past week— Sam has accepted an offer to join the Physics PhD program at Princeton this fall, and Luke will be heading to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor for a summer REU in Physics. I’m super proud of and excited for them both! 🎉🎆
- Physics and AST spring semester picnic -- collective excitations at low T :)
- Super happy for this new paper from a collaboration with Itai Cohen, Jim Sethna, and Bulbul Chakraborty that just came out in Soft Matter. The first author, William Wang, was an undergrad at Cornell (now CS PhD student at Stanford) when he did the work and an absolute joy to discuss and work with.
- So happy and excited to see this work out! …. and to be a part of this cool story. This was a wonderful collaboration with Sophie Dumont, and her mentees Miquel Rosas-Salvans and Caleb Rux, which started when Miquel came to a seminar I gave at UCSF last year. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Das Lab action shots from days 4 and 5 at the #APSSummit25. I (invited) and Keegan spoke in the Biological Active Matter IV session, Jonathan in the Non-Equilibrium Self Assembly and Self Organization II session, and Sam in the Macromolecular Assembly in Cells III: Agency session.
- Das Lab at the #APSSummit25
- Das Lab action shots from days 1 and 2 at the #APSSummit25. Aravind giving his talk yesterday; Alberto and Soumik giving their talks today; me, Alberto, and Keegan grabbing a quick lunch at the food trucks between sessions (my lunch consisted of churros and boba tea 🙂)
- Those of you @ the #APSSummit25 in Anaheim this week, please come check out talks by my mentees and me below. They are all at the Hilton.
- I am also chairing a Focus Session tomorrow (Monday) -- Mechanics of Cells and Tissues I -- starting at 8 am at the Anaheim Hilton, Pacific B (Ballroom Level).
- Reposted by Moumita (Mo) DasPlease join us Fri Feb 28 for exciting talks by Clarice Aiello @claricedaiello.bsky.social (Weak magnetic field effects in biology are measurable—accelerated Xenopus embryogenesis in the absence of the geomagnetic field) & Boris Veytsman (Motion of Influenza A virus: The role of irreversibility).
- 2/2 With Hao Shi ('13), one of our standout undergraduates (and an informal mentee of mine), who was visiting RIT yesterday to receive an RIT Emerging Leader award! Photos include our provost in an unexpected photobomb and some of my current mentees who joined to celebrate Hao's felicitation :)
- 1/2 For a few hours, I set aside all worries to celebrate the achievements of my incredible mentees! With Sam Silliman who has been accepted into several of his top-choice Physics PhD programs (Princeton, UCLA, UT Austin, and Georgia tech), and one of Sam's other mentors.
- Reposted by Moumita (Mo) DasPlease join BPPB Fri Feb 21, for talks by Jingyu Zhang (Long-range genomic loci stochastically assemble into combinatorial forms of chromosome skeleton) & Amaresh Sahu (Geometry and dynamics of drawing tethers from flat lipid membranes). For more info see sites.google.com/view/bppb-se... #biophysics
- 2/2 For Capstone Prep, right now I am hosting my colleagues for 5 minute research talks. Plus the class is reading and presenting, in small teams, chapters from this National Academies report about what it means to be a scientist and a researcher nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1219...
- 1/2 This semester, in addition to grad Statistical Mechanics, I am also teaching undergrad Capstone Preparation (which is a new prep for me). For grad Stat Mech, I am once I am using Jim Sethna's Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity which is a great book sethna.lassp.cornell.edu/StatMech/
- Reposted by Moumita (Mo) DasPlease join BPPB on Friday January 31 for exciting talks by Tapomoy Bhattacharjee (Physical confinement selectively favours bacterial growth based on cell shape) and Raffaella De Vita (The Vagina Dialogues: Breaking Taboos with Biomechanics). #biophysics
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View full threadReposted by Moumita (Mo) DasWe have a rotating group of volunteer organizers from the research community. Many of the talks from this series are available on our YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/@bppbseminar...
