Nimesh's News

Columbia postdocs are unionized. They played a significant role in the unionization efforts of postdocs throughout New York City and the United States. Because of the union, salaries have increased, and postdocs have gained many rights and benefits. Personally, I have benefited from a higher salary and a relocation allowance. It is great to be part of this organization.

When I signed up for the union and checked the box indicating that I wanted to get more involved, this meant attending meetings. I do not particularly enjoy this aspect of union organizing, but I understand its importance. I am doing my part by going around campus to gather signatures for petitions and signing people up for the union. This brings me happiness, as I contribute directly to my workplace and surroundings. I can manage the meetings; they are not that bad.

It was not an easy decision to run for election. I do not want to campaign, and I do not need more work than I am already doing. However, people told me that I would continue doing what I typically do and would only need to attend one extra meeting a month. Additionally, no one else was running for the positions, so I agreed. Why not? If no one else is available, I win the election by acclamation. That is what happened.

Let’s see what happens next. I am now a steward for UAW Local 4100

A steward is an elected representative of the union who assists in enforcing the collective bargaining agreement, represents members in grievance proceedings, and keeps the membership informed about union activities.

It was a fantastic experience to give both talks, one for developmental mechanics and the other for the Indian Society of Developmental Biology. I was concerned about the duration of the talk; 25 minutes is long for a presentation but not too long for a seminar. Last year, I had only done long-form seminars, such as for my PhD defense, postdoc interviews, and invited talks. When I practiced with my current lab mates, it seemed that I was significantly over time. Advice from my boss was helpful; he suggested reducing the number of slides. I counted 22 slides and was able to present my work comfortably. I felt very lucky that the talks were scheduled in the same week. So I wasn’t nervous for too long.

It was a pleasure to present alongside such fantastic individuals. Yamini Ravichandran from Geneva gave an excellent talk about the mechanics of hydra development, and Natasha Shylo from Kansas presented on veiled chameleon development. I gained many new ideas from their talks.

The Q&A session was also very engaging. Personally, I appreciated emails from people after the talk with specific questions or ideas for collaboration.

I am going to be giving two seminars back to back in November. Both Developmental Biology ones. Super excited to show off my PhD work.

One talk will be a part of “International Developmental Mechanics Zoom Seminar Series” on 7th November.

Other talk is an inaugral seminar series “Gulmohar” on 11th November from Indian Society of Developmental Biology.

I am grateful for these opportunities and hope to make some meaningful connections with Dev-Bio community.

Revamped the website. I am trying desparately to get this webpage under 1mb, and use no java script. Some things are working, others not. I had to compromise on zoomable images by using lightbox script. Also, math is not working. Blog is still hidden because of reasons.

The fan club @EpiMechFC I started is turning 1 year old! 🎉 Thank you all for your support. I even did a small interview for the account. check the link here

jexpnimesh.com is no longer functioning. Sadly, I was not able to renew the domain, because of extremely high renewal fees. It seems to be under control of registrar: nominalia.com for one more year, so it is going to be difficult to buy back the domain from another registrar.

Bought a cheap reusable point and shoot camera. And starting to snap photos. I have no clue how the photos will turn out.

I am starting as a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University with Prof. Nandan Nerurkar. Let’s just say that I have arrived in such great turmoil that I can’t even enter the campus. Google: Columbia Protests.

It was incredible to spend time at IISc Bengaluru; meet friends and professors; The talk went well; QnA was insightful. Thanks to Prof. Gundiah for inviting me and letting me share my work at AR auditorium, where all the cool people give talks. Also, gifting me a very nice IISc t-shirt. click here.

Friends, I am finally going on vacation! Doing a proper trip to India after 2019. I am going to meet family, and friends, and also do tourism. Sorry in advance, I will reply to the emails after coming back from India. Ciao!

It’s official people, I am going to be joining postdoctoral scientist position at Columbia University, New York City with Prof. Nandan Nerurkar. Incredibly excited to work with little chicken embryos.

First ever invited talk at prestigious Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru at my department of mechanical engineering. They have made a poster for me and everything check it out here.

After a couple of interviews and speaking with many people, I’ve chosen a position and will start my postdoc in mid-spring 2024. Can’t share details yet as I haven’t signed anything.

My scientific poster is featured in the exhibition “A=A, B=B” at the Antoni Tàpies Foundation, curated by Pep Vidal. You can read more here.

Interviewing for postdoc positions in United States of America. Wish me luck!

Attended Barcelona International Community Day 2023 and got featured on a radio program done by catalan news

Partner defended her thesis. Congratulations!!! Dra. Judith Cantó Santos.

Presented poster at 16th IBEC annual Symposium on Bioengineering for Future and Precision Medicine.

Gave a presentation at XXIX Jornada de Biologia Molecular de la SCB / 1st CATCAT Day.

Started the Epithelial Mechanics Fan Club. It will be an international network of scientists working in the field, and be useful repository of the papers. You can find the twitter account here.

Successfully defended my PhD thesis. The presentation and viva went well, and it was quite an emotional event. I have incredible friends. You can read my thesis (here).

I will defend my thesis on 20th June 2023 at UPC Faculty of Mathematics. (read more)

Submitted my PhD thesis to Doctoral School of Polytechnic University of Catalonia at Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics. Title: Mechanics of Epithelial tissue subjected to controlled pressure.

Presented my PhD work at Dresden, Germany in Tissue mechanics section of DPG (German Physics Society Spring Meeting). Title: Harnessing active viscoelasticity for synthetic epithelial morphogenesis (read more).

Showcasing an artwork ‘Organic Origami’ at CCCB teatre as part of Biennal Ciutat i Ciencia. Also, participated in a roundtable discussion on “Why should the scientific community be interested in art?” (read more).

Selected for a talk at DPG (German Physics Society Spring Meeting). I will be traveling to Dresden Germany on 26th March 2023. Title: Harnessing active viscoelasticity for synthetic epithelial morphogenesis (read more).

Invited to give a talk at IBEC’s PhD discussion event on my thesis work. Title: Mechanics of epithelia under controlled pressure (read more).

Won the best poster prize at 15th IBEC SYMPOSIUM on Bioengineering for Active Ageing, Barcelona for more.

Presented my PhD work in a short talk at the World congress of biomechanics, Taipei, Taiwan.

Gave a talk at EMBL-IBEC Conference, Engineering multicellular systems, Barcelona, Spain on “Synthetic epithelial morphogenesis through controlled stretching and buckling.”

Traveled to Heidelberg, Germany to present my PhD work in EMBO-EMBL Symposium: Mechanobiology in development and disease.

European Commission’s Mechanocontrol website interviewed me for my project on stretching device called MISTI. (Read more)