About the EMBO-FEBS Lecture Course
Morphogenesis is fundamentally a problem of organization: cells with different identities must arrange, interact, and collectively generate structure across spatial scales. How this organization arises and changes during development remains a central question in biology. Explaining morphogenesis requires looking beyond molecular interactions within cells to supracellular interactions between cells and understanding how they change over space and time. To study these changes, we must develop tools to quantify cell communication, tissue shape, extracellular and mechanical properties, and patterning, as well as conceptual frameworks to understand self-organizing processes. Such investigation is crucial not only for understanding development, but also for explaining how genetic changes propagate through cellular and tissue organization to generate morphological change over evolutionary timescales.
These themes will be the focus of the joint FEBS|EMBO Lecture Course on Biological organization and the evolution of form. Taking place from 22–27 August 2027 in Venice, Italy, the course continues the tradition of evo-devo summer schools in Venice that has run since 2009. We will address the following four questions:
- How does biological organization (spatial-temporal patterns, shape, extracellular and mechanical context) impact the development of complex form and function?
- How do we measure, model, and manipulate the organization of biological systems?
- What are the relative contributions of genetic programs versus physical properties and interactions in the emergence of complex forms?
- How should the above influence our understanding of the evolution of novel morphologies?
Lectures span diverse approaches (tissue mechanics, gene regulation, cell–cell interaction, evolutionary genetics), model systems, and methods (mathematical, machine learning, physics-based modelling), together with conceptual and historical perspectives.
The format is question-driven, exploratory and participatory. The program includes participant elevator pitches, small-group journal clubs, and thematic discussion groups chosen by participants. This EMBO|FEBS Lecture Course is designed primarily for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, both experimental and theoretical, who are interested in conceptual problems in development and evolution. FEBS grants are available by application to support registration costs.
Image credits: Nicole Repina
About EMBO Courses and Workshops
EMBO Courses and Workshops are selected for their excellent scientific quality and timelines, provision of good networking activities for all participants and speaker gender diversity (at least 40% of speakers must be from the underrepresented gender).
Organisers are encouraged to implement measures to make the meeting environmentally more sustainable.
About FEBS and the FEBS Advanced Courses programme
As a grass-roots organization FEBS provides a voice to a large part of the academic research and teaching community in Europe and beyond. The FEBS Advanced Courses programme provides grants to expert scientists to organize courses that bring together researchers working in a similar research area, for training, updates, and networking. FEBS collaborates with EMBO, and other organizations, to co-fund some of these courses. You can learn more about FEBS here.
