ROCKVILLE, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2023 Society Early Career Travel Awards. These awards are very competitive in nature and are intended to recognize Society members for excellence in biophysics. The winners will be honored at the Society’s 67th Annual Meeting, being held in San Diego, California from February 18-22, 2023.
Mena Abdelsayed, Stanford University, USA - “Action Potential Heterogeneity in the Myosin Binding Protein C3 Mutant, R943X”
Mohammad Ahsan, University of California Riverside, USA - “Principles of DNA Cleavage in CRISPR-CAS9”
Karishma Bhasne, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA - “Elucidating the Role of the HSC70 Chaperone in Snare Complex Assembly”
Isotta Cainero, Istituto Italiano Tecnologia, Italy - “New Insights in Progerin-Induced Modifications of Chromatin Landscapes”
Chun Kit Chan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA - “Disordered Regions of Respiratory Supercomplexes Offer New Pathways for Substrate Channeling in Crowded Membranes”
Siyu Chen, University of California, San Diego, USA - “CRYO-EM Visualization of State Transition During Non-Homologous End-Joining (NHEJ)”
Sara J. Codding, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA - “Using the Photo-Crosslinkable Non-Canonical Amino Acid BZF to Capture U.V.-Driven, State-Dependent Disruption of Kinetics and Voltage Dependence of Activation in HERG Potassium Channels”
Zhicheng Cui, University of California, Berkeley, USA - “Structural Basis for MTORC1-Dependent Regulation of the Lysosomal and Autophagic Transcription Factor EB”
Liza Dahal, University of California, Berkeley, USA - “Live Cell Single Molecule Imaging Reveals Concentration Dependent Changes to Dynamic Behavior of Nuclear Receptors RAR and RXR”
Vikram Dalal, Washington University School of Medicine, USA - “Nanodisc Scaffold Alters THE Structure of a Pentameric Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Revealing New Conformations”
Mohamad T. Dandan, University of California, San Francisco, USA - “Context-Specific Inhibition of Translation in Mycobacterium”
Cristian A. Escobar, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA - “Solution Structure of POLY(UG) RNA Reveals a New Fold That Drives Gene Silencing”
Axel J. Fenwick, Johns Hopkins University, USA - “HF P EF Animal Models Display Differences in Myofibril Mechanics”
Kirin Gada, Northeastern University, USA - “Critical Regulation of the Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel, NA 1.4, by PIP”
Stefanie M. Geisler, University of Innsbruck, Austria - “Genetic Deletion of STAC2 Adaptor Protein Alters Electrical Activity of Mouse Chromaffin Cells”
Shefin Sam George, Stanford University, USA - “Cholesterol as a Tool to Probe the Role of Membrane in Cochlear Hair Cell Mechanotransduction”
Eric Gibbs, Case Western Reserve University, USA - “Structural Characterization of a Full-Length Heteromeric Glycine Receptor in Multiple Functional States”
Marissa Gionet-Gonzales, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA - “Engineering Viscoelastic Alginate Hydrogels for HIPSC Cardiomyocyte Culture”
Angela Greenman, University of Arizona, USA - “The C5C7 Domains of CMYBP-C Do Not Alter Myofilament Calcium Sensitivity of Tension”
Yanxiao Han, University of California, Davis, USA - “Elucidation of a Dynamic Interplay Between Guanine Nucleotide and the Ternary Complex of a Beta-Adrenergic Receptor, its Agonist and Stimulatory G Protein”
Erik K. Henze, Cornell University, USA - “A Cellular Metabolite Directly and Reversibly Opens the ATP Release Pannexin Channels”
Emi Hibino, Nagoya University, Japan - “Analysis and Comparison of Amorphous & Amyloid Aggregates of the Tumor Suppressor P53”
Jan Huertas Martin, Cambridge University, England - “OCT4 Interprets and Enhances Nucleosome Dynamics”
John Janetzko, Stanford University, USA - “Arrestin C-TAIL Dynamics Regulate Activation and GPCR Engagement”
David King, The Ohio State University, USA - “Nanoscale Remodeling of Sodium Channels in the Cardiac Transverse Tubules Contributes to Aberrant Calcium Release in a SCN1A Haploinsufficient Mouse”
Robert C. Klipp, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical, USA - “Mechanistic Insights into Lipid Regulation of the Acid-Sensing Ion Channels”
Kristina B. Kooiker, University of Washington, USA - “Elucidating the Mechanism of Danicamtiv on Force, Kinetics, and Myosin Structure and Function”
Mirna Elizabeta Kramar, Institut Curie, France - “Cellular Communication in Cancer: Interplay of Signalling and Electricity”
Efthymios Kyriakis, University of British Columbia, Canada - “Structural Insights for the Modulation of KCNQ1 Channel by ML277”
Shuxiang Li, Queen's University, Canada - “Histone Variant H2A.Z Modulates Nucleosome Dynamics to Promote DNA Accessibility”
Hridya Valia Madapally, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark - “Mechanism of K+ Transport Along the Intersubunit Tunnel of KDPFABC”
Alberto Marin-Gonzalez, Johns Hopkins University, USA - “Multiplexing CAS9 Activity with Multi-Target CRISPR”
Nicolae Moise, The Ohio State University, USA - “Emergent Pacemaking and Tissue Heterogeneity in a Calcium Feedback Regulatory Model of the Sinoatrial Node”
Marc Mora Hortal, King's College London, England - “Oxidative Stress Regulates Talin Mechanosensing”
Haibo Ni, University of California, Davis, USA - “3D Spatial Modeling of Sinoatrial Node Cells Reveals a Critical Role of Subcellular Ryanodine Receptor Distribution in Pacemaker Automaticity”
Aniruddha Panda, Yale University, USA - “Direct Determination of Membrane Protein-Lipid Organization from Customizable Bilayer and its Application in Synaptic Vesicle Fusion”
Tanadet Pipatpolkai, Science for Life Laboratory, Sweden - “PIP2 Binding at the Voltage Sensor Domain Facilitates KCNQ1 VSD Activation and Gating”
Marcelo D. Polêto, Virginia Tech, USA - “Active-Site Electronic Properties And Conformational Dynamics Of Pet-Degrading Enzymes”
Maria Queralt-Martin, Universitat Jaume I, Spain - “Biphasic Concentration Patterns in Ionic Transport Under Nanoconfinement Revealed in Steady State and Time-Dependent Properties”
Shamayeeta Ray, Harvard University, USA - “Structural Basis of Metal Import by NRAMP Family Transporters”
Raju Regmi, Institut Curie, Paris, France - “Conformation-Dependent Diffusion Properties of a Transmembrane Protein”
Haitham A. Shaban, LBME/CBI-CNRS University Toulouse, France - “Individual Activator and Repressor Transcription Factors Act as Modulators of Global Chromatin Mobility”
Rohit K. Singh, niversity of Colorado, USA - “Defining the Interactions Between HCN4 and the Regulatory Proteins IRAG and LRMP”
Charlotte Smith, University of California, Davis, USA - “Sex Differences in Electrophysiology of the Intact Atria”
Shwetha Srinivasan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA - “Lipid Dependence of the Conformational Coupling Across the Membrane Bilayer of Full-Length Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor”
Justyna B. Startek, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium - “A TR(I)P Through TRPA1 Mechanosensitivity”
Antonio Suma, SISSA, USA - “Channel-Lipid Interactions Drive the Emergence of Ion Channel Clustering, Channel-Channel Cooperativity, and Activation Hysteresis”
Renata Torres da Costa, Rutgers University, USA - “Depletion of Mitochondrial Polyp Levels Increase the Phosphorylation of AMPK Protein and Compromises Oxygen Consumption in SH-SY5Y Cells”
Chen-Wei Tsai, University of Colorado, USA - “Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Tissue-Specific Micu-Dimer Assembly in the Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter Complex”
Sandra Vergara, University of Pittsburgh, USA - “A Molecular Movie of Nucleotide Addition by HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase”
Daiana C.O. Vieira, University of Maryland, USA - “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes Enable the Development of New Therapeutic Strategies for the Treatment of LQT8”
Akasit Visootsat, Oregon State University, USA - “Tina Enables Plus-End-Directed Kinesin-14/KLPA to Achieve Enhanced Minus-End-Directed Processivity on Single Microtubules”
Kaiqian Wang, Linköping University, Sweden - “CA V 2.1 Channels Divide into Two Populations at Resting Membrane Potentials”
Wenjun Xie, University of Southern California, USA - “Harnessing Natural Evolution and Computation Towards Systems Enzymology”
Shannon Yan, University of California, Berkeley, USA - “Do Cell Membranes Support or Resist Tension Propagation”
Wayne Yang, EPFL, Switzerland - “Defect Engineering of 2D Material for Biosensing Applications”
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The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific Society established to lead development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its annual meeting, publications, and committee and outreach activities. Its 7,500 members are located throughout the United States and the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry.