BPS is excited to introduce Virtual Networking Events. BPS is sponsoring events planned and hosted by members around the world, to encourage continuing networking opportunities in the current environment. Registration pages for events will open at least one month before each event. Please see below for more details, and visit the Upcoming Networking Events site for more information and updates.
Embracing Biophysics in Africa: Challenges and Strengths Registration open!
Date: August 21, 2020 3:00 – 5:10 pm (East Africa Time zone) When is this in my time zone?
Summary: Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Biophysical Society (Kenya Chapter) together with the Biophysical Society (USA), have the pleasure to invite you to participate in a two-hour Virtual Networking event (online) on “Embracing Biophysics in Africa: Challenges and Strengths" scheduled for August 14, 2020, from 3:00 pm-5:00 pm EAT. The networking event will provide you with an opportunity to establish collaborations and linkages for academic and professional growth, and knowledge to be cascaded in your respective institutions.
Fundamentals for Repurposing Nature’s Building Blocks in Advanced Materials Applications Registration open!
Date: September 2, 2020 4 – 8 PM MSK When is this in my time zone?
Summary: Over the last 3.6 billion years, nature has developed processes and materials with exquisite selectivity, specificity, and adaptability. Self-assembly has been one of the many strategies nature uses for generating nanostructures with precise organization, shape and functionalities. Self-assembling proteins are valuable building blocks allowing the construction of materials with versatile chemical properties and functions based on their tertiary and quaternary protein structures. Well-studied motifs from tandem repeat proteins (such as silk, elastin, collagen, keratin, resilin, and squid ring teeth-SRT) have been frequently used to create multifunctional materials for diverse applications exhibiting extraordinary physical responses that have not been observed in materials synthesized via usual routes. Besides their extraction from natural sources, derivatives of these biopolymers are engineered, e.g. via directed evolution.
In this networking event, we will discuss in-vitro and in-vivo self-assembly of celluloses and will address how the structure of the helicoidal order of cellulosic building blocks reflect into their function and material properties. We then focus on using directed evolution to self-assemble tandem repeat biopolymers that can be tuned for predefined macroscopic symmetries, by controlling their packing symmetry of order. State-of-the-art experimental and computational tools to predict performance of such genetically engineered materials will be presented and future directions, particularly for utilizing the dynamical properties of these materials, will be discussed.
Magnetic Resonance Meets the Future of Biophysics Registration open!
Date: September 25, 2020 3 – 7 pm CEST When is this in my time zone?
Summary: Magnetic Resonances are highly developed, non-invasive techniques that can be used to study soft and hard matter at the atomic and molecular scale. Therefore, MR plays a central role in modern biophysics. With this event, we aim at advertising MR to the audience of biophysicists from different areas of expertise, giving clear-cut examples of what MR can do on its own and in integration with other biophysical techniques, and demonstrating that it can be easily approached and handy! The meeting will be highly interactive, with ample time for discussion and networking.
Membrane Transport Mini-Symposium for Early Career Scientists Registration open!
Date: September 25, 2020 11 am – 3 pm (EST) When is this in my time zone?
Summary: This networking event will focus on the membrane transport proteins, with a focus on presentation opportunities for senior graduate students and postdocs. Such an event may be especially helpful to young scientists whose careers face unique challenges in the current pandemic environment.
Scientifically, the focus will be on membrane transport proteins. The program is expected to be inter-disciplinary, and include speakers using structural, pharmacological, genetic, and biochemical techniques. In particular, we would like to feature one or two speakers whose work in cryo-EM has made a major impact in membrane transport research.
Biophysical Approaches to the Development of Therapies for Infectious Disease Registration open!
Date: October 14, 2020 8 am – 4 pm (PDT) When is this in my time zone?
Summary: This Virtual Networking Event will provide a forum for the discussion of the development of infectious disease therapeutics based on biophysical analysis of microbial targets and the interaction of peptides, lipids, glycans and small molecules with these targets. Topics will also include unconventional approaches, including bacteriophages and nanotechnology.
Shedding light on the dark ‘ion channelome’ Registration open!
Date: October 15, 2020 12 – 2 pm (EST) When is this in my time zone?
Summary: Ion channels have well described roles in excitable cells. They are also known to be expressed in non-excitable cells but their functional contributions are generally poorly characterized. Although hundreds of ion channels have been described, there remain ‘new’ ion channels to be discovered. The goal of this virtual event is to highlight recent findings that help us to better understand ion channel diversity.
Challenges in Understanding Multi-component Cytoskeletal Networks from the Molecular to the Meso-scale Registration open!
Date: November 17, 2020 4 – 7 pm (GMT) When is this in my time zone?
Summary: Understanding the physics of active networks such as the cytoskeleton cells is of central interest to decipher the principle mechanisms enabling the complex, versatile and adaptive behavior of living cells. Interestingly, this complexity is achieved by a relatively small set of proteins which has allowed scientists to develop minimal systems recapitulating various cellular phenomena. Despite the advances of the last decade, particularly in networks based on a single cytoskeletal component (actin, microtubules or intermediate filaments), obtaining an understanding of multi-component active networks that links microscopic protein-protein interactions to the meso-scale network behavior is still a challenging problem.
This networking event intends to bring together experimental and theoretical experts and early career scientists from across the globe to present recent findings and discuss how to address key challenges to advance the field. The aim would be to identify key problems on the theoretical, modelling, and experimental side and to discuss what kind of information would be critical to make major advances.
Recognition of membrane morphology Registration open!
Date: December 11, 2020 11:25 am – 1:25 pm (EST) When is this in my time zone?
Summary: Curvature properties have dominated our thinking about shape and biological membranes. Recently we have shown that membrane morphology – independent of curvature strain can modulate biological function.
Ion Channel Electrophysiology and Automated Platforms
Date: TBD
Summary: This event would gather talented ion channel electrophysiologists both in academia and industry and provide a chance to network and discuss the future of ion channels in drug discovery.