Biophysics

1ˢᵗ Meeting of Young Biophysicists

November 21, 2025.

On Friday, November 14, 2025, the 1ˢᵗ Meeting of Young Biophysicists took place at the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb. The event was organized by the Croatian Biophysical Society, with the Ruđer Bošković Institute as co-organizer, and endorsed by the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, the Faculty of Science, University of Split and two sponsors: Labena d.o.o. and Apis Aurum.

This one-day event brought together 30 participants, including early-career researchers who presented and discussed their work in a stimulating scientific environment, as well as senior scientists who moderate discussion. Guest speaker Greta Grassmann from Sapienza University of Rome presented talk about the Youth Section within the European Biophysical Societies Association (Young EBSA), whose main goal is to network young scientists and provide resources for their career development. Invited speaker Aleksandra Maršavelski from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb gave a lecture entitled Integrative approaches in computational enzyme engineering: from sequence design to functional optimization.

Further, 14 young scientists presented their work in four sessions covering molecular biophysics, membrane biophysics, cellular biophysics and computational biophysics. The evaluation committee selected the best oral presenters: Lucija Tomasic, PhD student at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, for her presentation Macro-karyotype approach reveals a universal selection principle across cancer types, and Matej Kozic, PhD student at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, for his presentation Optimizing oligonucleotide selection for DNA data storage (ongoing research). The book of abstracts of the 1 st Young Biophysicists Meeting is available at the link.

We hope that this first edition will lay the foundation for a continuous series of meetings for young biophysicists, additionally strengthen the biophysics community in Croatia, foster new collaborations for future research. We extend our gratitude to all participants, their mentors, supporting institutions, and sponsors for contributing to the organization of the event.

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