Learn more about IMSI activities at SICB 2026
Many members of our IMSI community are attending and presenting at the 2026 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) Annual Meeting, which will be held in Portland, Oregon, on January 3-7, 2026. Below is a schedule of IMSI-affiliated talks and presentations to help you navigate the meeting and support our contributors. For the full conference program and additional details, please visit the official SICB program.
Sunday, January 4th, 2026
| Time | Session | Location | Title | Authors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:15-8:30am | Session 4: Jumping and Burrowing | B114 | Manipulation of mouse EDL muscles to mimic kangaroo rat hopping | Caden Werner, Kiisa Nishikawa, Carissa Mallonee, Craig McGowan |
| 8:30-8:45am | Session 4: Jumping and Burrowing | B114 | Center of mass and postural mechanics in hopping vs bounding | Mary Erin Pena, Craig McGowan |
| 8:45-9:00am | Session 4: Jumping and Burrowing | B114 | The metabolic cost of steady state hopping on sand vs solid surfaces in desert kangaroo rats | Jeremy Jesus Almazan, Angela Horner, Craig McGowan |
| 10:30-11:00am | SYM-2B Dinosaurs to drones: comparative approaches to understanding flight | C124 | Flapping fast: Neural, mechanical, and thermal consequences of wingbeat frequency in moths | Leo Wood, Ethan Wold, Benjamin Doshna, Simon Sponberg |
| 3:15-3:30pm | Session 29: Walk This Way | B113 | Limb Specific Control Strategies and Centralization in Cockroaches Running on Complex Terrains | Ellen Liu, Leo Wood, Simon Sponberg |
| 3:30-5:30pm | P1 Material Properties (Poster session) | Exhibit Hall A/A1 | Increasing tendon fatigue resistance with genipin (P1-166) | Arjun Zaveri, Miles Miguel Valencia, Manny Azizi |
| 3:30-5:30pm | P1 Muscles (Poster session) | Exhibit Hall A/A1 | Toe-tilting tricks: how guinea fowl keep medio-lateral balance on sloped terrain (P1-177) | Junhyuck Woo, Alyssa Desamito, Samar Rana, Monica Daley |
| 3:30-5:30pm | P1 Muscles (Poster session) | Exhibit Hall A/A1 | Multiscale evaluation of focal muscle vibration effects on proprioception and movement dynamics (P1-179) | Vanson Vu, Emma Blalock, Lauren Infantino, Monica Daley, Manny Azizi |
| 3:30-5:30pm | P1 Muscles (Poster session) | Exhibit Hall A/A1 | Active stretch dynamics of muscle-tendon units (P1-180) | Hanna Chow, Miles Miguel Valencia, Katelyn Manross, Richard J. Casler, Kiisa Nishikawa, Manny Azizi |
| 3:30-5:30pm | P1 Muscles (Poster session) | Exhibit Hall A/A1 | Reconciling muscle-tendon trajectory estimates derived from joint vs. tissue-level measures in situ (P1-181) | Lauren Venera Infantino, Chloe Dang, Caitlin Marie Bemis, Manny Azizi, Monica Daley |
Monday, January 5th, 2026
| Time | Session | Location | Title | Authors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:30-10:45am | Session 58: Muscles | B116 | When the Perch Swings: How two distal muscles keep guinea fowl balanced | Caitlin Marie Bemis, Monica Daley |
| 10:45-11:00am | Session 58: Muscles | B116 | Muscle work is more sensitive to changes in stimulation during strain perturbations at higher speeds | Carissa Mallonee, Monica Daley, Kiisa Nishikawa |
| 11:15-11:30am | Session 58: Muscles | B116 | System identification informs viscoelastic structure of tendons, muscle-tendon units and muscles | Miles Miguel Valencia, Hanna Chow, Katelyn Manross, Manny Azizi, Richard J. Casler, Kiisa Nishikawa |
| 11:30-11:45am | Session 58: Muscles | B116 | Applying the avatar method to dissect strain-frequency interactions in dynamic skeletal muscle work | Katelyn Manross, Caitlin Marie Bemis, Kiisa Nishikawa |
| 2:45-3:00pm | Session 74: Comparative Biomechanics Best Student Presentation Wainwright and Koehl Award | C123 | Supra-resonant wingbeats in insects | Ethan Wold, Rundong Yang, Ellen Liu, James Lynch, Nick Gravish, Simon Sponberg |
| 3:30-5:30pm | P2 Walking (Poster session) | Exhibit Hall A/A1 | Relating body kinematics to muscle co-contraction during tandem walking (P2-249) | Skylar Taylor, Ilana Plager, Marcus Garcia, Bryan Alvarez, Monica Daley, Alexandra Voloshina |
| 3:30-5:30pm | P2 Walking (Poster session) | Exhibit Hall A/A1 | Influence of Variation in Individual Capacity on Balance Performance in Walking (P2-250) | Ilana Plager, Skylar Taylor, Marcus Garcia, Bryan Alvarez, Monica Daley, Alexandra Voloshina |
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026
| Time | Session | Location | Title | Authors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2:15-2:30pm | Session 116: Tissues and Surface Properties | Oregon 202 | Limitation of increased crosslinking in aged tendons | Miles Miguel Valencia, Hanna Chow, Manny Azizi |
Wednesday, January 7th, 2026
| Time | Session | Location | Title | Authors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:45-11:00am | Session 135: Flying Insects and Undulating Plants | B113 | The Power Problem: Hawkmoth flight muscle work loops do not yield the required power for flight | Casey King, Ethan Wold, Travis Tune, Simon Sponberg |
| 11:15-11:30am | Session 135: Flying Insects and Undulating Plants | B113 | What does it DO? Turning control and modulation of the dorsal oblique muscle in Manduca sexta | Elena Meigs, Ethan Wold, Jean Baptiste Bwirayesu, Simon Sponberg |
| 11:15-11:30am | Session 139: Migration & Navigation | B117 | Bobcats navigate environmental risk through flexible behavior and movement | Katrina Moore, Monica Daley, Primrose Thavornthon, Megan Steen, Brinda Garikapati |