Our group is broadly interested in mathematical biology of the cell.

We are a team of interdisciplinary scientists that develop models and new mathematical tools to tease apart the "internal machinery" of a living cell. Our work combines:

  • mechanics-based mathematical modeling
  • numerical and computational methods
  • image-based analysis and inference
  • collaborations with experimentalists


    • We're always looking for all forms of collaboration! Reach out if interested.

    Group News

    January 16🎉 Ansa is awarded the PEAK Summit Fellowship! Well done!
    January 12We are lucky to host another AJC Merit Scholar -- Neil Gabrielson joins to group and will be continuing his REU work on cortical patterning with the Landino group.
    January 4Happy New Year from us! Ansa represented the group at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington D.C.
    December 11Together with Andreas Buttenschoen & Dietmar Oetz, Calina is an guest editor at Journal of Mathematical Biology (JOMB) for a special edition on Mathematical Modeling of Cell Motility across Scales. Submission by June 30, 2026.
    December 10Last week, our group presented at CellBio2025 in Philadelphia. Thanks to Samantha Finkbeiner, Egun Im, and Ansa Brew-Smith for their hard work on putting together two posters for the group. This year, we also co-organized (together with Andreas Buttenschoen, Anna Nelson, Veronica Ciocanel) a minisymposium on quantitative models for cytoskeleton dynamics. And we were pleasantly surprised to see how well attended it was! The conference leaves us inspired to continue researching in the new year 👩💻🔬
    October 31🤓 New paper alert on emergence of directional bias in moving cell pairs. Read all about it here.
    October 27Calina became an Affiliated Member at the National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology (NITMB) 🎉
    September 26A thoughtful review by Robert Insall and Lucija Mijanovic of our recent paper on galvanotaxis. Always valuable to get feedback from respected peers in the field. Link to the review article on Current Biology.
    July 2I am delighted to announce that I will be organizing a Minisymposia at ASCB Cell Bio 2025 annual conference titled "Quantitative Modeling Insights for Cytoskeleton Dynamics and Cell Polarity" together with Andreas Buttenschoen, Veronica Ciocanel, and Anna Nelson.
    June 27It's a wrap! Thanks to an NSF-supported research training grant we hosted 3 talented undergraduate students (and a graduate student mentor!). They worked on the mathematical equations that could explain pattern formation in developmental biology!
    May 2It's been a good week for the group! Two papers were accepted (in press) at PNAS and Nature Systems Biology and Applications!
    Apr 26Congratulations to Sam who won the College of Science Dean’s Graduate Student Excellence Award in Connecting! On top of coursework and research, Sam runs the "For PhDs, By PhDs" graduate student newsletter!
    Apr 25Ying's interview with the Society of Mathematical Biology Cell & Developmental Biology subgroup is up!
    Apr 8We are excited to have recruited Ansa Brew-Smith as our Fall 2025 co-op through the AJC Merit Research Scholarship program!
    Jan 31Check out our new combined experimental-theory paper on the diversity of collective cell migration modes.
    Jan 29Calina has joined the editorial board of PLoS Computational Biology.
    Dec 17Katie's paper on what it takes for co-organization of symmetry breaking in cell groups is now out at PLoS Computational Biology! We hope you check it out!
    Nov 6Exciting new Biophysics PhD program @ Northeastern! Now accepting applications for Class of 2025. Questions? Get in touch with us.
    Oct 21Another award for the group -- Ying wins the College of Science Dean's Postdoctoral Travel Award. Congratulations!
    Oct 8-11Ying is away deciphering the effect of oral contraceptives on coagulation as part of a WAMB (Women Advancing Mathematical Biology) collaboration. 5 years later, and 2 publications later, Calina is still an active member of WAMB Class of 2019!
    Aug 14thNew paper discovers a system where inner cells are active contributors to group migration.
    July 8thNidhi starts her co-op project on intracellular architecture (partly funded by the Northeastern Co-ops to On-Ramp into Research Endeavors).
    July 3rdYing is awarded the AMS-Simons Travel Grant!!
    May 31stKatie graduates and will pursue a Ph.D. in Mathematics at UW Madison! Her paper is submitted for publication! Katie did a lot of great work to understand the molecular origin of collective symmetry breaking.
    May 6thShawn "graduates" from an intern to an REU in the group working alongside Sam on tissue regeneration.



    Awards

    • NSF Division of Mathematical Sciences Grant DMS2209494 (2020 - 2023)