SoCalSysBio 2026 Symposium

SATURDAY APRIL 25, 2026

UCLA – LOS ANGELES, CA

The annual symposium, now in its 15th year, brings together researchers from across Southern California—from Santa Barbara to San Diego—to share research, build community, and stimulate collaborations. 

The symposium will be held in person on Saturday, April 25 and will include thematic sessions of talks and a poster session.

Symposium Information

Program

Will be provided later.

Keynote Speaker

Arthur Lander, PhD
Donald Bren Professor of Developmental and Cell Biology, Director of the Center for Complex Biological Systems, University of California, Irvine
How do biological systems deal with “exponential” threats?

Speakers

Barbara Bailus, PhD
Assistant Professor of Genetics, Keck Graduate Institute a Member of the Claremont Colleges
ZIP Delivery: A New Way to Deliver Therapeutics to the Brain

 

 

Heather Z. Brooks, PhD
Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Barbara Stokes Dewey Assistant Professor in the Life Sciences, Harvey Mudd College
Modeling the effects of hormonal oral contraceptive dosing on contraceptive efficacy

 

Minji Byun, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine
One Mutation, Two Diseases, One Mechanism? DNMT3A Loss-of-Function in Overgrowth Syndromes and Clonal Hematopoiesis

 

Tainã Coleman, PhD
Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Diego
Enabling Scientific Discovery through Workflows and Autonomous AI

 

 

Elisa Franco, PhD
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles
Programmable artificial RNA condensates in mammalian cells

 

Jia Gou, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of California, Riverside
A Study of the Mechanisms of Early Epithelial Cell Clustering and Collective Motion

 

Parag Katira, PhD
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, San Diego State University
Predicting phenotype to mechanotype relationships in migrating cancer cells

 

 

Seungsoo Kim, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, UC Irvine
Combinatorial transcription factor control of cell identity

 

 

Judith Kribelbauer, PhD
Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences & Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California
Constructing synthetic gene loci to learn the cis-regulatory code

 

Carolyn Mills
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
University of California, Santa Barbara
Cell-free systems for studying and engineering protein assemblies
 
 
 
Arnab Mukherjee, 
Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of California, Santa Barbara
Programming aquaporins to image and modulate biological functions from the cell surface
 

Ami Radunskaya, PhD
Professor of Mathematics, Pomona College
Focused Ultrasound and immunotherapy for brain cancer

 

Russell C. Rockne, PhD
Professor, Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope
Viewing Acute Myeloid Leukemia as an Epigenetic System-Wide State-Transition

 

Eytan Ruppin, MD, PhD
Director of Integrative Data Sciences in the Division of Surgical Research, Cedars-Sinai Cancer
Towards fast and low-cost precision oncology

 

 

Matt Thomson, PhD
Professor of Computational Biology, Caltech

 

 

 

Nagarajan Vaidehi, PhD
Professor and chair of the Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine, City of Hope 
Interpretable AI Reveals Cooperativity and Allosteric Communication in Protein Complexes

 

Sharmila Venugopal, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, California State University Long Beach
Defining Functional Interactomes in Neural Systems: Toward a Systems Level Framework with AI-Augmented Analysis

 

Roy Wollman, PhD
Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology and Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles
An Information Theory of Biological Atlases

 

Yue Jane Wu, PhD
Assistant Professor in Chemistry, University of California Riverside
From Snapshots to Dynamics: Tracking Cells Across Time, Space, and Identity
 
 
 
 

Sheng Zhong, PhD
Professor of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego
Targeting a Multifunctional Protein for Alzheimer’s Disease

 

 

Will be selected from submitted Abstracts.
Lightning talks are limited to 2 minutes and should be presented using a single PowerPoint slide compatible with Mac. Animations are permitted.

Posters should be displayed at the start of the meeting and will be available for viewing throughout the day. Upon morning check-in, presenters will receive a poster number and should mount their poster on the corresponding board. Posters should be removed at the conclusion of the meeting. Please use a standard conference poster format (e.g., 36″ × 48″).

Location: 

Garry Shandling Learning Studio, B36
Geffen Hall
885 Tiverton Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90024

 

Parking: 

Street parking is available on Hilgard Avenue on a first-come, first-served basis.

UCLA parking is $17 per day—carpooling is recommended.

Closest Parking Structures :

– Parking Structure 18 (CHS South) – This is the closest official UCLA parking structure to Geffen Hall, right next to it on Le Conte Avenue / Westwood Plaza. It’s often referred to as the CHS parking structure and is walking distance to Geffen Hall’s entrance. 

– Parking Structure 8 – located along Westwood Plaza / Westwood Boulevard. 

– Parking Structure 4 – located on Westwood Plaza just north of PS 8. 

– Parking Structure 9 – Slightly farther than PS 4 and PS 8 but still a reasonable walk to Geffen Hall.

UCLA parking map

How to Pay:

Self-service Pay stations are located in all visitor parking areas. Pay BEFORE leaving the structure. 

  1. All self-service pay stations use pay-by-plate technology.
  2. Once parked, go to the nearest parking pay station.
  3. Enter your license plate number, and pay by credit card.

SoCalSysBio Steering Committee

Arthur Lander, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California, Irvine

Alexander Hoffmann, Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles

Weitao Chen, Ph.D.
University of California, Riverside

Russell Rockne, Ph.D.
City of Hope

Mark Alber, Ph.D.
University of California, Riverside

Stacey Finley, Ph.D.
University of Southern California

Adam MacLean, Ph.D.
University of Southern California

Key Dates

February 1st, 2026
Registration opens

April 10th, 2026
Abstract submission deadline for poster session

April 10th, 2026
Registration deadline

Registration Fee: $25

The symposium registration fee includes admission and meals (coffee, breakfast snacks, lunch, reception hors d’oeuvres). 


Registration is only complete once payment has been submitted.

Register & Submit Abstract Payment by Credit Card