Important Dates // Invited Speakers // Registration // Enabling Participation Grants // Schedule // Accessibility Information // Contact Information
The Cambridge Morphogenesis Seminar Series is five years old!
What began as the ‘Morpho Club’, and later formally relaunched as a virtual seminar series, has grown into a vibrant weekly forum, routinely attracting over 100 participants from around the world with a shared passion for morphogenesis and developmental biology.
To mark this milestone, we are pleased to announce the Cambridge Morphogenesis Symposium 2026: a one-day, hybrid event celebrating five years of knowledge exchange and highlighting recent advances across experimental and quantitative approaches to morphogenesis. We aim to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue and support early-career researchers within the morphogenesis community.
The event will take place on the 5th June 2026 at the Sainsbury Laboratory Auditorium, Cambridge CB2 1LR.
All talks will be livestreamed online for virtual participants.
Refreshments will be provided throughout the day, and the Symposium will conclude with a pub social. This event offers an excellent opportunity to network with like-minded scientists and to discuss your own research with peers!
We are now inviting abstract submission for posters and talks.
Best poster presentees will take home a goodie bag sponsored by Development! 🎁
Important Dates:
| Deadline for abstract submission | 3 April 2026 |
| Abstract decision announcement | 17 April 2026 |
| Deadline for in-person ticket registration | 1 May 2026 |
| Deadline for online ticket registration | 4 June 2026 |
Invited Speakers:
Plenary talk: Dr Romain Levayer (Institut Pasteur)
And invited talks from:
- Dr Margherita Battistara (University of Cambridge)
- Dr Matt Benton (EMBL, Heidelberg)
- Dr Wolfram Pönisch (Human Technopole, Milan)
- Dr Sarah Robinson (Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge)
- Dr Elena Scarpa (University of Cambridge)
Further programme details will be announced in due course.
Registration:
Registration for in-person tickets closes on 1 May 2026, while online tickets will be available up until the day of the Symposium.
If you sign up to attend virtually, please note that this is a personal zoom link, which should not be shared online.
Enabling Participation Grants:
The symposium will be held as a hybrid meeting, reflecting our commitment to accessibility and inclusivity. Registration will be free of charge. To encourage participation from geographically diverse backgrounds, we are offering a limited number of enabling participation grants to help cover travel costs.
Priority will be given to:
- Early-career researchers (postdocs within five years of completing their PhD and postgraduates) with selected abstracts
- Participants from underrepresented or geographically distant institutions
Applicants will be asked to provide a short justification (<200 words) and an estimated travel cost. Full instructions are available via the registration form.
Accessibility information:
The Sainsbury Laboratory is located only 1km, or 0.6 of a mile, from Cambridge station. The venue has step-free access to the building and to all Symposium spaces (fully wheelchair-accessible), gender-neutral toilets, accessible gender-neutral self-contained toilets, a quiet room, a family room, and a lactation room.
Please note the the Sainsbury Laboratory entrance is on Bateman Street, which is one-way. The turning is just before the streets fifth bollard at number 47. Turn into this short driveway and up to the black entrance gate where you may use the intercom to speak to reception or security.
Contact Information:
Feel free to contact us at ucam-morphogenesis-events@lists.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions. Do follow us on Bluesky! We will be using the hashtag #Morpho5
We look forward to seeing you in June!
From the Cambridge Morphogenesis Symposium Organising Committee
Nanami Satoh (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology)
Euan Smithers (Sainsbury Laboratory)
Marta Urbanska (PDN, University of Cambridge)
Alice Yuen (Genetics, University of Cambridge)
Proudly sponsored by:
British Society for Developmental Biology
