In February 2019 I attended the Winter Workshop on Complex Systems in Poland. Together with several others I worked on a project in which we studied whether the spreading of delays through a railway network can be described by a model inspired by diffusion on networks. We applied our modeling approach to the Belgian railways. Now, the paper in which we describe our findings is published in EPJ Data Science. I hope our work will inspire others to look at similar models - there are many more things to explore here!

Our lab put together some physics experiments to show at EMBL's Lab Day. We showed demonstrations of surface tension using soap bubbles and pattern formation using ferrofluids (picture left) and Faraday waves. Both of these physical principles are very important in biology. Surface tension determines the shape of cells, and different kinds of pattern-forming mechanisms govern processes as varied as the formation of stripes on tigers and the growth of the fingers on our hand!

Below you can see an example of Faraday waves, that illustrate how patterns can form through an instability. A liquid put on a vibrating speaker will spontaneously form patterns if the amplitude of the forcing crosses a threshold. It can form stripes, square or hexagonal patterns depending on the type of liquid and the frequency and amplitude of the vibration.

From the 6th to the 9th of March, I attended EMBO | EMBL Symposium on biological oscillators here in Heidelberg. It was great to see new colleagues and old friends and talk science in person. I presented a poster on my PhD work on pacemaker-generated waves. You can find the pdf file of my poster here.

New year, new job! I have started as a postdoctoral fellow at EMBL Heidelberg, in the group of Anna Erzberger. I will be working on the segmentation clock, a genetic oscillator responsible for laying down the segmented body plan in vertebrates. In this project I'll be able to combine my experience in nonlinear dynamics and biological oscillators with new topics such as cell surface mechanics and cell movement. I look forward to working at EMBL and enjoying this stimulating environment!

Good news: I have been awarded one of the EIPOD postdoctoral fellowships at EMBL. The goal of this three-year postdoctoral fellowship is to work on a research project involving different groups at EMBL and possibly, external partners. I will work with the groups of Anna Erzberger and Alexander Aulehla on an interdisciplinary project, with Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo as external partner. The topic will be the segmentation clock, and how mechanics and movement of cells influence this genetic oscillator. More information about the EIPOD program can be found here.

During the month of September I stayed at IFISC in Palma de Mallorca. I worked with Damià Gomila on a peculiar oscillating system, generated by a time-delayed negative feedback. I looked at how the system behaves when coupled in space through diffusion. Besides that, I also got to enjoy some nice views in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range.

On the 27th of May, 2021, I defended my PhD at KU Leuven. The title of my thesis is 'The role of bistability and time delay in the coordination of the cell cycle'. Due to corona regulations only a limited number of people could attend, but fortunately we were able to have a drink outside afterwards. Thanks to everyone that was there, and especially to Lendert, my promotor, and the jury: Enrico Carlon, Karel Talavera Pérez, Edda Klipp and Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo.