Watt’s Growing at EMBL Lab Day 2025

The EMBL Lab Day is our annual celebration of science, collaboration, and creativity — when scientists from the six EMBL sites across Europe come together to share their work and have fun.

During the event, Mirsana Ebrahimkutty presented her work on cell volume and stem cell fate in cultured keratinocytes. As our in-house expert on the topic, she knows the subject inside out. The biggest challenge? Not the science — but fitting everything into a 15-minute presentation! She could easily talk about it for hours.

Adil Boolani and Pavlina Markova, shared their ongoing PhD work during the poster sessions. Adil delved into the role of topography in regulating keratinocyte stem cell fate whereas Pavlina described the ways to modulate MAPK-ERK dynamics during stem cell differentiation.

Our Fun Poster for this year carried the title “Watt’s growing?” So… What is growing? Our team of course!

We’ve been based in Heidelberg for three years now. What started as a trio — Fiona Watt, Purna Sham Gadre, and Joanna Sobska— has since expanded into an active team of eight. Like a colony of keratinocytes, we’ve been growing, learning, and exploring new territory. But as any cell biologist knows, keratinocytes don’t develop alone — they need a feeder layer for support, structure, and nourishment.

In our lab, that support comes from each other. We rely on collaboration, shared knowledge, and mutual encouragement to keep moving forward. Because just like keratinocytes, science grows best when it’s supported. For us, this "feeder layer" is made up of the incredible EMBL facilities and people who are always ready to help and answer our questions.

Our journey is just beginning, and we’re excited to see where it takes us. With such great support from our team and community, the future looks bright. We can’t wait to keep discovering and growing!