The Australian Research Council awards MACSYS Research Fellow Dr Sami Al-Izzi (UNSW) a 2026 Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA).

Project details:

• Title: Active Mechanics of Biological Interfaces.
• Funding amount: $506,852
• Summary: Biology is typified by thin deforming interfaces that undergo complex geometric changes. Examples include lipid membranes and thin layers of epithelial tissue that form the basis of organs. The proposed research will develop mathematical methods to build models of these active living interfaces using tools from the fields of differential geometry, continuum mechanics and active matter. The project will focus on three aims, each displaying general mathematical characteristics, but with specific examples in biology that have so far evaded mathematical analysis. The development of these novel methods will bridge a substantial knowledge gap and tackle a problem that has stalled the feedback between theory and experiment in mathematical biology.

Congratulations, Sami!