ISM Day 2025 Brings Together Researchers Across Disciplines

Posted in ISM Stories News Story

ISM Day 2025

Woman in audience asking question with the mic

The Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISM) hosted ISM Day 2025 last week on Georgetown University’s Main Campus, bringing together scientists from across disciplines to share their work and spark new collaborations.

Events like ISM Day are essential to ISM’s mission: creating a space where physicists, chemists, biologists, data scientists, and engineers can exchange ideas, connect methods, and imagine solutions that no single field could achieve alone. By encouraging interdisciplinary conversations, ISM fosters the kind of collaboration that leads to stronger research and real-world impact.

Morning Talks: From Tumors to Atmospheric Science

The day opened with a welcome from ISM Director Emanuela Del Gado, who highlighted the Institute’s unique role in connecting fundamental research with applications that improve the world around us.

The morning session, chaired by ISM–NIST Fellow Lucas Cunha included:

  • Maryam Kohram (Princeton University) explored the dynamic behavior of engineered tumors under environmental perturbations.
  • Megan Lickley (Georgetown Earth Commons, SFS) examined uncertainties of halocarbon emissions and their atmospheric lifetimes.
  • Priyanka Joshi (Georgetown University) discussed how protein misfolding creates materials with emergent properties.
  • Elizabeth Yates (U.S. Naval Academy) explored protein aggregation from neurodegeneration to underwater adhesives.

After a coffee break, the conversation continued with a session chaired by Tadas Penkauskas (NIST):

  • Debra Audus (NIST) shared strategies for extracting knowledge from polymeric data.
  • Jennifer Swift (Georgetown University, ISM) presented on uric acid crystals in biogenic environments.
  • Jeffrey Huang (Georgetown University, ISM) revealed new findings on myelin repair mechanisms through single-nucleus RNA-sequencing.

Innovation in Action

Over lunch, participants heard from Tatiana Litvin-Vechnyak, Georgetown’s Vice President for Technology Commercialization, who highlighted how the university is supporting researchers in transforming discoveries into innovations

Afternoon Panel: Interdisciplinary Conversations in Action

A highlight of ISM Day was the afternoon panel, Soft Matter for Medical, Atmospheric, and Data Science, moderated by Jeffrey Toretsky (Georgetown University School of Medicine).

Panelists; Kohram, Lickley, Joshi, Yates, Audus, Swift, and Huang brought diverse expertise to the table. The discussion highlighted how different perspectives can enrich scientific inquiry: the same principles that govern protein misfolding may also inform material design, while atmospheric modeling methods can inspire new approaches to analyzing biological data.

What made the session standout was not just the insights of each individual speaker, but the way ideas intersected across disciplines. The panel embodied the purpose of ISM Day, providing a space for researchers who might not otherwise share a room to engage with one another. These conversations stimulate new collaborations, innovative research directions, and ultimately, discoveries that improve our understanding of the world and our ability to address global challenges.

Posters and Community Celebration

The day closed with a poster session in Regents Hall, where students and researchers presented their latest projects, followed by a reception and happy hour that gave participants a chance to continue their conversations in an informal setting.

ISM Day 2025 was a reminder of what happens when scientists step outside their silos and come together to share knowledge: the boundaries between fields blur, new questions emerge, and opportunities for collaboration multiply. By building these connections, ISM continues to advance its mission of harnessing soft matter science to tackle pressing challenges across medicine, the environment, and technology.