Recent reports claim that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is spontaneously generated – without external energy input or catalyst – at the air–water interface of microdroplets1, bubbles2, and soap films3. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, including: (i) ultrahigh instantaneous electric fields at the air–water interface driving HO− à HO• + e− radicals from hydroxide ions; (ii) water’s comproportionation into H2O•+ and H2O•−; and (iii) partial dehydration of interfacial H+ and HO− followed by radical formation. In contrast, our laboratory experiments reveal that H2O2 formation is due to the reduction of dissolved O2 at water– solid interfaces, i.e., with no role for the air–water interface beyond O2 mass transport4-6. Based on these findings, I will present four diagnostic criteria against which any existing or future mechanistic proposal should be assessed. Our approach reconciles the claims of spontaneous H2O2 formation within established physical chemistry and extends naturally to other claims of anomalous microdroplet reactivity.
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\r\nReferences:
\r\n(1) Mehrgardi, M. A.; Mofidfar, M.; Zare, R. N. Sprayed Water Microdroplets Are Able to Generate Hydrogen Peroxide Spontaneously. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2022, 144 (17), 7606-7609. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c02890.
\r\n(2) Nami-Ana, S. F.; Mehrgardi, M. A.; Mofidfar, M.; Zare, R. N. Sustained Regeneration of Hydrogen Peroxide at the Water-Gas Interface of Electrogenerated Microbubbles on an Electrode Surface. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2024, 146 (46), 31945-31949. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c11422 From NLM PubMed-not-MEDLINE.
\r\n(3) Eldeeb, A. M.; Berbille, A.; Dick, J. E. No Microdroplets? No Problem. Soap Films Amplify the Interface and Produce Hydrogen Peroxide. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147 (37), 33325-33329. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c05887.
\r\n(4) Eatoo, M. A.; Mishra, H. Busting the myth of spontaneous formation of H2O2 at the air-water interface: contributions of the liquid-solid interface and dissolved oxygen exposed. Chemical Science 2024, 15 (9), 3093-3103. DOI: 10.1039/d3sc06534k From NLM PubMed-not-MEDLINE.
\r\n(5) Eatoo, M. A.; Wehbe, N.; Kharbatia, N.; Guo, X.; Mishra, H. Why do some metal ions spontaneously form nanoparticles in water microdroplets? Disentangling the contributions of the air-water interface and bulk redox chemistry. Chemical Science 2025, 16 (3), 1115-1125. DOI: 10.1039/d4sc03217a From NLM PubMed-not-MEDLINE.
\r\n(6) Eatoo, M. A.; Mishra, H. Disentangling the Roles of Dissolved Oxygen, Common Salts, and pH on Spontaneous Hydrogen Peroxide Production in Water: No O2, No H2O2. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147 (39), 35392-35400. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c09028.
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\r\nPapers:
\r\n- Busting the myth of spontaneous formation of H2O2 at the air–water interface: contributions of the liquid–solid interface and dissolved oxygen exposed
\r\n- Disentangling the Roles of Dissolved Oxygen, Common Salts, and pH on Spontaneous Hydrogen Peroxide Production in Water: No O2, No H2O2
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\r\nBio: Himanshu Mishra is a scientist-entrepreneur from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. His team has significantly contributed to resolving scientific debates surrounding the spontaneous H2O2 formation in water microdroplets, the electrification at water-hydrophobe interfaces, and liquid–solid adhesion forces. Mishra’s team has also pioneered Carbosoil™ technology to transform desert soils for sustainable greening, food production, and carbon sequestration. His start-up Terraxy is now scaling up Carbosoil™ production to advance sustainability projects in the Middle East and beyond. Mishra’s efforts have been featured by the World Economic Forum, Geneva Inventions, and CNN (LINK).
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“To emphasize (...) dubious uses of risk is perverse, a dirty way of talking about a
\r\nclean scientific subject”
\r\nMary Douglas, Risk and Blame, 36.
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\r\nAs the baseline condition of so many territories shaped by extractive industries, administrative delay, and climatic instability, risk is prevalent. Yet ecological risk—pollution, fires, floods, heatwaves, droughts—is still presented as problems to be solved rather than conditions to be inhabited. This also speaks to an outsourcing of risk through externalized consequences of spatial injustice. Banks, developers, material supply chains, normative institutions, subcontracting hierarchies —all contend with calculated risk. This edition of Pressure Points asks us to unpack what it means to live with the risk, how it is managed, commodified, quantified, invented, politicized, instrumentalized, tamed, and to think, design, cohabitate intellectually and physically with it. The assembled guests should help us think and build literacy toward developing tools for living within uncertain territories and futures.
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\r\nSonia Seneviratne
\r\nMonday, October 26, 17:00 CET
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\r\nSonia Seneviratne is a Full Professor in Land-Climate Dynamics at ETH Zurich, with a focus on climate science and environmental physics. She conducts research on climate extremes such as droughts, land-climate processes, and human-induced climate change, based on climate modelling and data analyses. Listed among the Highly Cited Researchers of Web of Science (Clarivate) since 2014, she was a Coordinating Lead Author and Lead Author on several reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including the Special Report on Extreme Events, the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, and the Sixth Assessment Report in 2021. Seneviratne has received the Macelwane Medal of the American Geophysical Union in 2013 and the Hans-Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union. Since July 2023, she serves as IPCC Working Group I Vice-Chair for the seventh assessment cycle (2023–2030). Her most recent contribution, published in June 2026, is the release of MESMER v1.0.0, an open-source climate model emulator she helped develop as part of her research group. It reproduces the spatial climate patterns of complex Earth System Models, including temperature and several climate-extreme indicators, making detailed climate information accessible to the wider research community.
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\r\nRIOT (Research and Innovation on Territory) is a laboratory engaged in pedagogy and research within the Institute of Architecture (ENAC) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology–EPFL, led by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes with Elif Erez, Flore Guichot, Jeremy Ratib, Summer Islam, Antoine Iweins, Kathy Kao, Nathalie Marj, Romain Dubetier-Grenier, Sylvie Clavel, and Saira Mohammed. Believing that the construction sector and design disciplines must pivot and wholeheartedly engage in the current social and climatic urgencies by rewiring themselves to face and repair the harm, RIOT utilizes tactics and strategies to decarbonize, decolonize, and depatriarchalize space production–by design.
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Weekly BioEngineering Talks (Lunch Provided)
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\r\nINVITED SPEAKER:
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\r\nAdvancing Multidimensional Single-Molecule localization microscopy: development and applications in nuclear organization
\r\nDr. Bassam Hajj, Institut Curie, Paris
\r\nHost: Prof. Aleksandra Radenovic
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\r\nAbstract:
\r\nSingle-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) has revolutionized our understanding of biological processes by providing access to spatial scales beyond the diffraction limit of conventional optical microscopy. In the study of the cell nucleus, SMLM has offered unique insights into its organization and function at the nanoscale. Nuclear architecture is structured across multiple spatial scales in three dimensions and is highly dynamic. Understanding the mechanisms that govern nuclear organization therefore requires imaging approaches capable of capturing molecular dynamics across a broad range of spatial and temporal scales and in diverse biological contexts. Although SMLM can routinely achieve spatial resolutions in the tens-of-nanometers range, many biologically relevant structures and processes remain beyond its reach. For example, resolving the precise organization of DNA at the molecular scale remains challenging, as it would require a substantial improvement in spatial resolution over conventional SMLM, while also addressing the high density and degree of molecular compaction within the nucleus.
\r\nOver the years, we have developed complementary strategies to address these challenges by introducing additional dimensions and observables into SMLM measurements. In this presentation, I will first discuss our approaches to three-dimensional single-molecule imaging, including multifocus microscopy and volumetric light-sheet excitation, which enable fast and sensitive imaging over extended volumes and in complex biological samples such as cell colonies. While these approaches provide access to the three-dimensional and temporal dimensions required to investigate nuclear organization, spatial resolution alone is not always sufficient to distinguish molecular arrangements. We have therefore extended SMLM further by implementing polarization-resolved multifocus microscopy (PolMFM), which combines three-dimensional localization with information on molecular orientation.
\r\nI will illustrate how these multidimensional approaches can provide new insights into nuclear organization, with examples spanning different biological systems. In particular, I will present evidence for a long-range, crystal-like organization of DNA within the nuclei of mature sperm cells from crickets, demonstrating how multidimensional imaging can reveal structural features that remain inaccessible to conventional localization microscopy.
\r\nFinally, I will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with visualizing, analyzing, and interactively exploring the multidimensional datasets generated by these approaches. Together, these developments illustrate how extending SMLM beyond conventional two-dimensional localization can provide new ways to interrogate the organization and dynamics of biological systems at the nanoscale.
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\r\nBio:
\r\nBassam Hajj is a physicist and CNRS researcher at Institut Curie in Paris, where he is a member of the Physics of Cells and Cancer unit and co-leads the “Light-based Observation and Control of Cellular Organization” team. His research focuses on the development of advanced optical microscopy techniques, particularly single-molecule localization microscopy, 3D imaging, and multidimensional approaches for studying cellular organization at the nanoscale.
\r\nAfter completing his PhD at École Normale Supérieure de Cachan on electro-optical microscopy, Bassam joined Janelia Research Campus as a postdoctoral researcher, where he worked on multifocus microscopy for fast and sensitive single-molecule imaging. He subsequently returned to Institut Curie and joined the CNRS as a permanent researcher in 2016.
\r\nHis current research combines innovative microscopy, quantitative image analysis, and data visualization to investigate molecular organization and dynamics, with a particular focus on nuclear organization.
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\r\nSTUDENT SPEAKER:
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\r\nTranscription Factor Dose in Stem Cell Reprogramming: Insights from Single-Cell Multi-Omics
\r\nAngelika Gebhart, Deplancke Lab
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\r\nBioEngineering Talks mandatory EDBB Seminar Attendance (1st-Year PhD Students)\r\n
The 2026 Flagship call by Innosuisse and armasuisse supports research and innovation in security and defence, with a focus on dual-use technologies that benefit both civilian and defence applications.
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\r\nThe 2026 call focuses on three complementary technology areas critical to defence and secure mobility:\r\n
The Mary Ann Mansigh Conversation series focuses of non-strictly technical topics of cultural interest for the simulation and modelling community. The format reflects the informative and informal nature of these sessions, with talks introducing the subject followed by a conversation between the speakers and the audience.
\r\nThe lecture series \"Mary Ann Mansigh Conversation series\" is co-organized by CECAM (https://www.cecam.org) and MARVEL (http://nccr-marvel.ch/) at EPFL.
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\r\nTuesday October 27, 2026, 15:00-18:00 CET
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\r\nArtificial intelligence is changing how algorithms are conceived, how software is written, and how its outputs are verified. This conversation takes stock of where the field of simulation and modelling stands today and opens a discussion on future directions and best practices — how to safeguard reliability and scientific creativity, how to adapt notions of authorship and ownership for AI-assisted code, and how to preserve and ideally enhance the rich commercial and academic software ecosystem that has driven the growth of computational science in research and development.
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\r\nWe invite submissions for contributed talks. If you would like to propose a contribution, please submit your abstract using this form. Deadline October 13, 2026.
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\r\nThe conversation will take place at EPFL, in room BCH 2103 and online.
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\r\nZoom link https://epfl.zoom.us/j/68443642155?pwd=ZPjdZw2KmHzeQ9Pu376iLb0OyMXCV8.1
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\r\nTentative program
\r\n15:00 Welcome and introduction
\r\n15:10 Georg Kresse, University of Vienna, Austria
\r\n15:30 Miguel Marques Ruhr, University Bochum, Germany
\r\n15:50 Michele Ceriotti, EPFL, Switzerland
\r\n16:10 Short break
\r\n16:20 Contributed speaker 1
\r\n16:35 Contributed speaker 2
\r\n16:50 Contributed speaker 3
\r\n17:05 Discussion
\r\n17:30 Apero for in person participants
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\r\nPrevious CECAM and MARVEL lectures can be found at
\r\nhttps://www.materialscloud.org/learn/sections/Btmngu/marvel-events
\r\nhttps://www.cecam.org/lectures
Memories are not static representations but evolve over time through consolidation and their progressive reorganization across distributed brain networks. This process allows memories to remain persistent while also becoming sufficiently flexible to guide behavior in novel situations. In this seminar, Gisella Vetere will discuss how memory engrams are reorganized from learning to remote recall and how distinct neuronal ensembles contribute to the balance between memory specificity and generalization. Combining activity-dependent neuronal tagging, circuit manipulations, and brain-wide analyses, her research seeks to uncover how memories are transformed over time and how these transformations shape adaptive—and potentially maladaptive—behavior.
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Behind every fast-growing startup lies a story of experimentation, setbacks, and continuous reinvention. Drawing on the experience of Vincent Bieri, co-founder of Nexthink - the Swiss-born technology company that grew into a unicorn - this seminar will look beyond headlines and valuations to examine the challenges, tough decisions, and perseverance that shape the entrepreneurial journey.
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\r\nThe Viewpoint Series, is a new entrepreneurship seminar series designed to expose students and scientists to real-world perspectives from founders, operators, and investors.
\r\nSupported by E4S and organized by EPFL - College of Management of Technology, and EPFL Entrepreneurship Education Hub, it brings together experienced practitioners to share candid perspectives on:\r\n