Congratulations to Xun on very successfully defending his thesis research today! We’re so proud of you Dr. Wang! This is a major milestone for the Kasza Lab - first PhD student graduated!

Congratulations to Mannendri for giving a really excellent final presentation on his research in our lab as part of the Columbia Engineering E.N.G. program! It was such a pleasure having in you in the group this summer!

A huge congratulations to Marisol on being the recipient of a 2021 BWF Career Award at the Scientific Interface! Such an honor! We’re so excited to see what amazing research you do with this tremendous support from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund!

Karen gave a virtual talk in the Symposium on the Mechanics of Biological Systems and Materials at the Society for Experimental Mechanics SEM 2021 Annual Conference. So good to see everyone!

Christian and Xun gave great talks at SB3C in the excellent Development and Morphogenesis session co-chaired by Yubing Sun and Victor Varner!

Karen gave a virtual seminar at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. A very big thank you to both Victor Lefèvre and Horacio Espinosa for the invitation and for organizing such an excellent day!

Karen gave a talk in the Developmental Mechanics International Seminar Series. A very big thank you to Ronen Zaidel-Bar for organizing such a superb seminar series and for the invitation to be part of it!

Karen gave a virtual talk in the Department of Biological Sciences Spring Seminar Series at Columbia University. A very big thank you to Iva Greenwald for hosting the visit!

A huge congratulations to Christian on being awarded an NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award, which will fund his research on understanding and controlling the mechanical forces that drive tissue morphogenesis!

Karen gave a virtual seminar at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Syracuse University. A big thank you to Victor Duenas for the invitation! As always, I had such a great time “visiting” Syracuse!

Karen co-chaired the “Techniques and Technology” session with Stephanie Mohr, Justin Bosch, and Pavel Tomancak at the Genetics Society of America Annual Drosophila Research Conference. What a great set of talks!

Marisol gave a talk on using optogenetics to study tissue fluidity in a fantastic session on “Regulatory and mechanical processes driving morphogenesis and pattern formation” at the Genetics Society of America Annual Drosophila Research Conference (Dros2021)

Karen gave a talk in the VGZT: Virtual Gastrulation Zoom Talks online seminar series. A big thank you to Margot Williams, Miguel Concha, Jesse Veenvliet, and Ramkumar Sambasivan for the invitation and for organizing such a fantastic virtual seminar series!

A big welcome to Sassan, the newest postdoc in the Kasza Living Materials Lab. So excited to have you in the group!

A big congratulations to Xun and Christian! Their poster won the Most Informative Poster Award in the IMECE 2020 NSF Poster Competition.

Karen gave a virtual talk in the conference “From Molecules to Organs:
The Mechanobiology of Morphogenesis” at the Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore in a really fantastic session on Tissue Shaping!

Karen gave a talk in the Cell Migration Seminar Series. A big thank you to Jennifer Mitchel, Adam Shellard, and Becky Jones for the invitation and for organizing such an amazing virtual seminar series!

More info here: https://www.cellmigrationseminars.com/.

If you missed the seminar, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r27Yo4vhmK0

Karen gave a zoom seminar at the Department of Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto. A big thank you to Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez for the invitation! Had such a great time “visiting” Toronto, seeing old friends and meeting so many fantastic scientists!

Congrats to high school students Abdhel, Alex, and Sham on excellent research contributions to the group this summer and great final presentations, all as part of the Columbia E.N.G. Program. Thank you to Columbia Engineering Outreach for organizing the program!