The National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences grant awarded to Joanna Sułkowska

23 02 2026

The U.S. National Science Foundation National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences (NCEMS) is catalyzing multidisciplinary scientific teams to leverage AI and data science to synthesize a myriad of publicly available data to answer the most fundamental questions in molecular and cellular biology, stimulating novel questions, answering long-standing mysteries, recruiting the best talent, and training the next-generation workforce of data savvy scientist, all while following gold standard science practices.

NCEMS anounced the selection of 6 new Working Groups that will start receiving support in 2026. The finalization of this cohort marks a significant milestone in advancing synthesis research, which focuses on reuse of the vast amount of publicly available molecular and cellular biology data. These groups bring together experts from diverse scientific backgrounds to tackle complex challenges at the mesoscale, focusing on emergent properties in molecular and cellular systems. Cohort 2 Working group members hail from 13 states, 5 countries, and 19 different institutions.

For the first time a group from Poland will participate in this funding scheme. The Polish project will be led by Joanna Sułkowska, head of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Biological Systems Modelling with student researchers Julia Sikorska and Mateusz Fortunka participating in the team and will will focus on unraveling the evolutionary origin of complex topologies