iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The result is near-complete mixing within one to two streaming cycles, placing the cell close to the Bernoulli regime and among the fastest mixers physics permits.

Tracking beads in the giant amoeba Chaos carolinensis, we find that the cell drives mixing not through chaotic advection but through sol-gel transitions, a capture-and-release mechanism that traps cargo in the gel phase and releases it into the flow.

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Living cells face a transport problem: cytoplasm is viscous and its internal streaming is laminar, so neither should mix organelle-scale cargo on useful timescales.

Sol-gel Transition Drives Hyper-fast Mixing in a Giant Cell

Also wanted to share this new preprint from the Marshall Lab www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... with @wallaceucsf.bsky.social and his recently graduated PhD student Ulises Diaz, that I had a lot of fun collaborating on starting during my sabbatical there a few years ago.

biorxiv.org

The cytoplasm is a crowded and dynamic fluid within which cellular building blocks such as mRNA, proteins, or organelles undergo transport and mixing. Although small things like proteins can eventuall...

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Stress-Induced Mechanical Memory in Respiratory Mucus: Anisotropy, Network Reorganization, and Directional Transport

Last week was a good week for collaborative paper submissions that I have loved being a part of. Check out this bioRxiv preprint with the Labs of Nuris Figueroa and Frank Vernerey at CU Boulder on Stress induced mechanical memory in respiratory mucus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

Mucus transport is essential for lung health, as ciliated cells constantly propel mucus outward to clear bacteria, viruses, and particles. This defense relies on a material that must be elastic enough...

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

It was so much fun co-chairing this workshop!! Plus #NITMB is a wonderful place to do and discuss science at the intersection of Biology & Math/Physics/Engr.

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Thanks 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.

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Most of the workshop was devoted to testing and refining ideas through group work and cross-group exchange. By the final day, teams presented emerging collaborative directions linking open biological questions with new or reimagined mathematical frameworks.

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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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.

Expanding the Palette of Mathematics in Biology

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...

nitmb.org

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Thanks so much, Markus! I appreciate it a huge amount.

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

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!

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

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.

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

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.

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Super excited for today's BPPB seminar... happening now!

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

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

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

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).

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

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.

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

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

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Reposted by Moumita (Mo) Das

NSF-Simons NITMB @nitmb.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Are 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 ⬇️

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

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!

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

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

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

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

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

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.

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

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!

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

At the Hactive Matter 2025 Workshop (Hackathon) at UCSB, with my collaborators Rae Robertson-Anderson, Megan Valentine, Ryan McGorty and student/postdoc participants

BPPB Seminar Series @bppbseminar.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Reposted by Moumita (Mo) Das

Please 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....

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

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

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

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).

rparthasarathy.bsky.social @rparthasarathy.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Reposted by Moumita (Mo) Das

I 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...

eighteenthelephant.com

An Informal Overview of US Science Funding

How does public funding for science work in the United States? How much money is there? Who gets it, and how? How much does a graduate student cost? Even normally, science funding is a rich topic w…

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

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!

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

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."

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

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...

rit.edu

Pfaudler Lecture Series: RIT's Role in a Better Model to Diagnose and Treat Osteoarthritis | Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

Register to attend: https://forms.gle/sTNkvZNgHP6YrxK89Presented by Moumita Das, Associate Professor, RIT School of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

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! 🎉🎆

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

Physics and AST spring semester picnic -- collective excitations at low T :)

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

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.

pubs.rsc.org

Rigidity transitions in anisotropic networks: a crossover scaling analysis

We study how the rigidity transition in a triangular lattice changes as a function of anisotropy by preferentially filling bonds on the lattice in one direction. We discover that the onset of rigidity...

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

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...

sciencedirect.com

SKAP binding to microtubules reduces friction at the kinetochore-microtubule interface and increases attachment stability under force

The kinetochore links chromosomes to spindle microtubules to drive chromosome segregation at cell division. We recently uncovered that the kinetochore…

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

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.

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

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 🙂)

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

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).

Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

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.

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Reposted by Moumita (Mo) Das

BPPB Seminar Series @bppbseminar.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Please 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).

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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

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 :)