july 2013

Newsletter

Contents

Biophysical Society

DeaDlines

juLY 2013

Call for 2015 Thematic Meeting Proposals

Mechanobiology of Proteins and CellsSeptember 29– October 3, 2013 salisbury Cove, Maine

July 8, 2013 Early Registration

2015 thematic Meeting ProposalsJuly 11, 2013 Proposal Submission

Wiki-edit ContestJuly 15, 2013 Article Submission

58th Annual MeetingFebruary 15–19, 2014 san Francisco, California

Biophysicist in Profile 2 Public Affairs 4Members in the News 5subgroups 5Obituary 52014 Annual Meeting 6

Biophysical Journal 8Grants and Opps 92013 Summer Course 10Student Spotlight 11Upcoming Events 12

save the Date

Proposal Deadline: July 11, 2013

Each year the Biophysical Society sponsors focused-topic meetings for 150–300 attendees organized by Society members. The Society provides partial financial support of approxi-mately $10,000 for these meetings, in addi-tion to meeting management, including all web and onsite components.

The Society has sponsored these thematic meet-ings, which have been held in various locations around the world, since 2010. These meetings are unique and exciting because they bring together researchers who do not otherwise attend the same events, bringing different perspectives to address common problems.

The Society is now calling for proposals for 2015 thematic meetings. Complete submis-

sions will be considered by the Thematic Meetings Committee and, pending review, organizers will be contacted for additional information. The Committee’s final recom-mendations will be submitted to the Society’s Council for approval in November.

For criteria, submission requirements, and a complete listing of past and future meetings, visit http://www.biophysics.org/Meetings/ thematicMeetings/tabid/2256/Default.aspx.

Proposals must be submitted through the onsite submission site at http://www.sur-veymonkey.com/s/2015thematicProposals for consideration.

The deadline for submission of proposals for 2015 thematic meetings is July 11, 2013.

Video Contest Winner

Congratulations to Andy Wowor, Colorado College, for winning this year’s Biophysics- the everyday video contest.

Wowor won a cash prize of $500 and his video will be featured at the 58th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, as well as on the

Biophysical Society’s YouTube channel.

To view the winning video, Protein Folding Dance, visit

http://www.youtube.com/playlist? list=PLcpQBGVPtn5Jh54Xnc6u7WFkef7feGvFj.

Biophysical society Newsletter2 juLY 2013

Biophysicist in Profile WALter Perkins

“ Biophysics is the crossroads where all the interesting science intersects…”– Walter Perkins

BioPhysiCAL soCiety

officersPresidentFrancisco Bezanilla

President-ElectDorothy Beckett

Past-PresidentJane Richardson

SecretaryLukas Tamm

TreasurerPaul Axelsen

CouncilKaren Fleming Taekjip HaAmy HarkinsSamantha HarrisPeter HinterdorferJuliette LecomteAmy Lee Marcia LevitusMarjorie LongoMerritt MadukeDaniel Minor, Jr. Jeanne NerbonneGail RobertsonClaudia VeigelAntoine van OijenBonnie Wallace David Yue

Biophysical JournalLeslie LoewEditor-in-Chief

society officeRo KampmanExecutive Officer

newsletterAlisha Yocum Monika ZakrzewskaProduction

Bernadette ChepegaProfile

Ellen Weiss Public Affairs

The Biophysical Society Newsletter (ISSN 0006-3495) is published twelve times per year, January-December, by the Biophysical Society, 11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, Maryland 20852. Distributed to USA members and other countries at no cost. Canadian GST No. 898477062. Postmaster: Send address changes to Biophysical Society, 11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, MD 20852. Copyright © 2013 by the Biophysical Society. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Walter Perkins often jokes that his career—research and development of anti-cancer agents and treatment for pulmonary conditions—is his way of “making amends for [his] involvement in perpetuating the use of tobacco.” Raised on a Virginia tobacco farm, Perkins recalls taking his grandmother’s alarm clock apart to see the mechanisms, converting an old barn into a chemistry lab—not a good location when using an open flame—and serving as the president of his high school’s Future Farmers of America chapter. He credits his father, a farmer and a self-taught musician, for teaching him patience and a dogged work ethic that has carried over from the field to the lab.

After earning his BA in chemistry, Perkins went on to PhD studies in biophysi-cal chemistry, both at the University of Virginia (UVA). With adviser David Cafiso, Perkins worked to explain the differences in proton/hydroxyl permeability across different model membrane systems and to evaluate the contribution of the membrane’s interfacial dipole field in proton/hydroxyl (H+/OH-) conduction. “I primarily credit Dave for sparking my interests and guiding me into the world of

lipid assembly and interactions,” said Perkins. “Dave started at UVA during my senior undergraduate year. I took his physical chemistry class, and then became his first PhD student.” Perkins’ experiences in Cafiso’s lab learn-ing about membrane properties and liposome formation would serve him extremely well in the next leg of his career.

Perkins knew he wanted to enter the pharmaceutical industry after his postdoc, but did not realize that there were industrial postdocs available until attending the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in 1987, where he pursued both academic and industrial postdocs. “Job searching was con-tained primarily at meetings in the early days,” he said. “Today, the Society’s website to connect job seekers and employers is very impressive; back in 1987, I posted my resume and was approached by a scientist from The Lipo-some Company (TLC).” After weighing the pros and cons of academia versus industry, he decided to head to TLC, and as Perkins put it, “the rest is history.”

Andrew Janoff was the head of Liposome Research at TLC when Perkins started. “Walter was our first postdoctoral scientist,” said Janoff, “and he went on to be-come one of the most important and productive members of the group.” Describ-ing his time at TLC as “a lipid biophysicist’s dream,” Perkins reminisced, “they had literally every technique and instrument that one could imagine, except x-ray diffraction, which we were able to do through collaboration with Dr. Sol Gruner.” In those early days of biotechnology research, scientists at small companies had the flexibility to do extensive mechanistic work and off-product research, as long as it generally increased the targeted knowledge base.

With this flexibility, Perkins’ time at TLC was extremely productive. Work-ing on a project to determine why multilamellar liposomes made from powder exclude solute, Perkins realized and proved that the captured volumes generally

Biophysical society Newsletter 3 juLY 2013

reported for most multilamellar vesicles had been underestimated by a factor of two. “Many of his observations have been codified into standard operating procedures necessary in all facilities that produce liposomes commercially,” explained Janoff. Perkins’ model that amphotericin and phospholipid were combining in a one-to-one ratio to form unique complexes that assembled to form membranes was a key factor in the devel-opment of the drug ABELCET®, which treats life-threatening systemic fungal infections, and is still on the market today. His contributions were also essential to the development and regulatory approval of the drug MYOCET®, as well as many other Investigational New Drug applications for the company. “Walter is the embodiment of Szent-Gyorgi’s ideal biophysicist,” said Janoff. “He sees what everybody else has seen, and thinks what nobody else has thought.”

Over the years, his career has covered many topics. “I think of myself as a liposomologist,” Perkins explained, “but I really have been a biophysics jack-of-all-trades, and master of none.” Focusing on drug delivery using liposomes and lipid-based complexes, he has employed techniques from elec-tron paramagnetic resonance to circular dichroism spectroscopy and more. “One of the great things about Walter was that if you had a reasonable idea, he would let you pursue it,” said Don Hirsch, who worked with Perkins at TLC. “Collabora-tion was encouraged and there was a sense that we would sink or swim together.”

Today, his specialization lies at the intersection of liposome/nanoparticle technology and inhalation delivery. As the chief technology officer at Insmed Incorporated, a public biotech-pharmaceutical company, Perkins heads the research team, work-ing to develop pharmaceutical therapies for rare diseases where there is high unmet medical need. His current work includes an inhaled liposomal amikacin drug, currently in a Phase 3 clinical trial and a Phase 2 clinical trial. “If it is approved, it will be used to treat Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients, as well as patients with nontuberculous mycobacteria lung infections,” Perkins explained. This treatment, as well as others that he is working on, focus on inhalation as a route of administration, expand-

ing his knowledge base to include a “reasonable understanding of aerosol delivery, aerodynamics, and airway deposition.”

Through the years, his biggest challenges have come not from the science, but from the supporting framework. Financial support, even in the pharmaceutical industry, is not unlim-ited. Perkins worked at a small venture capital funded company for several years, where pursu-ing research questions was limited to those that had potential to advance drug candidates down the pharmaceutical development path.

Time management is also a challenge for Per-kins. With career advancement came additional administrative responsibilities, limiting his time even further. He describes the pharmaceuti-cal industry as seeming on occasion akin to an old-west cattle drive, saying, “You gather the herd, head toward your destination and start pushing forward; if you discover new geography or a beautiful landscape, you make note of it but keep pushing forward.” Time to investigate those beautiful landscapes—or dangling questions in research projects—is limited, “and often you aren’t able to return to explore further.”

Despite these limitations, Perkins finds his work extremely rewarding. Solving the mystery of what appeared to be a new phase transition in saturated chain phospholipids was a person-ally satisfying puzzle to solve. Additionally, the improvement in patient’s lives brought about by new therapies, and the interesting science employed to generate the therapies, keeps him pushing forward. “I really love what I do,” Perkins confessed. “I’d like to keep doing it until I can’t, even expanding my group and doing more mechanistic work into basic interactions.”

Perkins would like to examine more closely the role of epithelial cell responses to certain media-tors affecting changes in the pulmonary vascula-ture, and to watch and wait in awe as the endless possibilities of biophysics move the field forward. “In my career, I have seen computers move from simple data crunchers to indispensable tools,” said Perkins. “The possibilities 25 years from now are hard to imagine.”

Perkins with some of his research colleagues (left to right): Franziska Graf, Walter Perkins, Pallavi Venugopal, and Jane ong.


Public Affairs

House Showdown over NSF Grants and ReauthorizationIn recent months, the National Science Founda-tion (NSF) has found itself under the microscope of Chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee Lamar Smith (R-TX). In April, draft legislation (The High Quality Research Act) to reau-thorize the NSF was leaked, including the require-ment that the NSF must certify in writing that each grant it awards is in the economic or national security interest of the country. The leaking of the legislation was followed by an April 25 letter from Smith to Act-ing NSF Director Cora Marrett, asking for the notes from peer review and from the program officers for five specific grants that Smith thought might not be in the interest of US taxpayers.

The proposed legislation and the inquiry into the grants have alarmed the science community about Chairman Smith’s intent. The concern is that the inquiry and the legislation will lead to the politi-cization of science and will infringe on the peer review system that has worked well for decades and made the US the model for other countries. There is also a secondary concern that releasing the comments to the Science Committee will breach the confidentiality the reviewers assumed they had when they made the comments, and will deter scientists from acting as reviewers in the future. According to an interview with a House Science and Technology committee aide that appeared on the AAAS blog, ScienceInsider, on May 9, Chair-man Smith contends that the problem is not the scientific review, but whether those projects are vetted by NSF to see if they are an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money. Ranking member of the Sci-ence Committee Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) has publicly renounced Smith’s request.

The Biophysical Society signed a community-wide letter to Smith opposing his request to NSF. Past NSF Directors, dating back to 1985, also sent the chairman a letter asking him to rescind his request, as did several past assistant directors.

In a surprising development, Marrett responded to Chairman Smith in May, saying that she was not going to divulge the information he requested. Mar-rett said that she would be happy to discuss the peer review process, how grants are selected, and how the five in question in are in line with the NSF’s mission.

NDD United Releases Seques-tration Video, Welcomes Stories on Its ImpactNDD United, a national coalition of 3,200 organizations working to stop budget cuts to core government programs considered discre-tionary spending, released an educational video on sequestration and its impact on non-defense discretionary programs in late May. The video is an effort to educate policymakers and the public about the impacts sequestration cuts are having on a wide variety of programs, including research, public health, education, public safety, housing, social services, infrastructure, and environmental protection. You can view the video at http://www.nddunited.org.

In addition, the coalition, of which the Biophysi-cal Society is a member, is asking individuals to share how sequestration is affecting them. You can share you story at http://www.nddunited.org/ #!contact/ch8q.

Bringing NSF research to CongressThe Biophysical Society co-sponsored the 19th Annual Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) Exhibition & Reception held on Capitol Hill on May 7. Over 285 Congressional staff, including 10 members of Congress, attended the event, which highlighted NSF-funded research taking place across the country. The members of Congress who attended were Congressmen Howard Coble (R-NC), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Bill Foster (D-IL), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Walter Jones (R-NC), Sheila Jackson Lee (D_TX), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), David Price (D-NC), and Paul Tonko (D-NY).


Subgroups

BIV 2014 Annual Meeting

The Biopolymers in Vivo subgroup is continu-ing to work on plans for the 2014 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. The full speaker lineup for our symposium will be posted online soon!

Once again, please encourage your students to participate in the Student Research Achievement Award (SRAA) poster competition and your postdoctoral fellows to submit abstracts for next year’s Annual Meeting on topics that might be chosen for talks at the BIV symposium.

BiV Logo Contest reminder

The BIV Logo Contest is looking for entries! See the June newsletter for details. Submit your entries to me, at: [email protected].

—Lila Gierasch, Chair, BIV subgroup

Members in the News

eve Marder, Brandeis Univer-sity and Society member since 1995, has been awarded the George A. Miller Award from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society.

Arthur L. horwich, Yale University and Society mem-ber since 2001, received the Herbert Tabor Research Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).

Obituary

Douglas JungeDouglas Junge, professor of Oral Biology and Physiology at UCLA passed away on May 5 after a long illness. Doug was a beloved educator and mentor who researched ion channels, membrane excitability, and sensory coding, among other topics. A graduate of Cal Tech, Doug completed graduate work with G.P. Moore at UCLA and postdoctoral training with S. Hagiwara. He will forever be remembered by his many students, colleagues, and friends.

Doug mentored a number of PhD students, in-cluding Dick Horn, Jeff Miller, Malcolm Brodwick, Les Satin, and Mark Schwartz. Doug also wrote a classic text on membrane biophysics, Nerve and Muscle Excitation.

—Leslie Satin, University of Michigan

Wiki-Edit ContestExpert in your area? Share that knowledge with the world!

The Biophysical Society is sponsoring a Wiki-Edit Contest with the aim of improving Wikipedia content on biophysical topics. Choose a topic and cre-ate or edit an article by July 15. Six winners will receive a $100 cash prize, membership, and registration for 2014 BPS meeting in San Francisco, a “Barnstar” award from WikiProject Biophysics, and a dinner with other BPS wikipedians at the Annual Meet-ing. Visit www.biophysics.org and click “Awards/opportunities” then “society Contests.”

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BioPhysiCAL soCiety neWsLetter6 juLY 2013

2014 Annual Meeting Symposia

Force sensing in Muscle

Mathias Gautel, King’s College London, United Kingdom, and Gabriella Piazzesi, University of Florence, Italy, Co-ChairsKenneth Campbell, University of KentuckyMichael Regnier, University of Washington

Myosin Motors in Vitro and in Cells

Michelle Peckham, University of Leeds, United Kingdom, and Margaret Titus, University of Minnesota, Co-ChairsLaurent Blanchoin, University of Grenoble, FranceJan Faix, Hannover Medical School, Germany

regulation of Cytoskeletal Motors

Marileen Dogterom, AMOLF, The Netherlands, and Kazuhiro Oiwa, National Institute of Infor-mation and Communications Technology, Japan, Co-ChairsYale Goldman, University of PennsylvaniaStanley Burgess, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

Membrane transport in Fatty Acid synthesis and obesity

Da-Neng Wang, New York University School of Medicine, and Ana Pajor, University of California, San Diego, Co-ChairsStephen Helfand, Brown UniversityGerald Shulman, Yale University

Molecular Basis of Voltage Dependence

Eduardo Perozo, University of Chicago, and Sudha Chakrapani, Case Western Reserve University, Co-ChairsNieng Yan, Tsinghua University, ChinaYasushi Okamura, Osaka University, JapanBaron Chanda, University of Wisconsin– Madison

Mechanosensing in eukaryotesJeffrey Holt, Harvard University & Boston Children’s Hospital, and Valeria Vasquez, Stanford University, Co-ChairsElizabeth Haswell, Washington University in St. LouisMiriam Goodman, Stanford UniversityArdem Patapoutiam, Scripps Research Institute

Molecular Basis for regulation of Ca2+ ChannelsStephen Long, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Amy Lee, University of Iowa, Co-ChairsAnnette Dolphin, University College London, United KingdomHeping Peace Cheng, Peking University, ChinaJörg Striessnig, University of Innsbruck, Austria

structures of Membrane FusionAnne Ulrich, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, and David Weliky, Michigan State University, Co-ChairsPeter Kasson, University of VirginiaLukas Tamm, University of Virginia

Biophysics of Genetic switches

Laura Finzi, Emory University, and Ido Golding, Baylor College of Medicine, Co-ChairsLucille Shapiro, Stanford UniversityKeith Shearwin, University of Adelaide, Australia

rnA Assemblies and DnA origamiChristina Smolke, Stanford University, and Andrew Turberfield, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, Co-ChairsLuc Jaeger, University of California, Santa CruzTim Liedl, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany

The diverse 2014 Annual Meeting program emphasizes scientific breakthroughs in both long-standing research areas of the Biophysical Society and in new cutting-edge areas, including methodologies, advances in complex systems, biophysics in industry, and personalized medicine.

In addition, we are excited to commemorate the UN International Year of Crystallography with a symposium highlighting recent developments and achievements in x-ray crystallography.

–Bob Nakamoto, Program Chair

58th AnnuAL MeetinG

FeBruAry 15–19, 2014 | sAn FrAnCisCo, CALiForniA

BioPhysiCAL soCiety neWsLetter 7 juLY 2013

B r i D G i n G t h e s C i e n C e s t o e X P L o r e B i o L o G y

structural Dynamics of Molecular MachinesJulio Fernandez, Columbia University, and Yasmine Meroz, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, Co-ChairsJohan Elf, Uppsala University, SwedenRobert Sauer, MIT

Applications of Quantum Mechanics to Biophysical ProblemsQiang Cui, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Co-ChairsKenneth Merz, University of FloridaUrsula Rothlisberger, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland

Celebrating 100 years of Crystallography: X-rays Are Photons tooJane Richardson, Duke University, and Gregory Petsko, Brandeis University, Co-ChairsJohn Spence, Arizona State UniversityWilliam Weiss, Stanford University Thomas Terwilliger, Los Alamos National LaboratoryJamie Cate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Biophysics of Cell Division and spatial relationshipsSusan Biggins, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, andWallace Marshall, University of California, San Francisco, Co-ChairsDaniel Fletcher, University of California, Berkeley Matthieu Piel, Curie Institute, France

Force Generation in Cell and tissue networksMichael Sheetz, Columbia University, and Clare Waterman, NHLBI, Co-ChairsAlexander Bershadsky, Weizmann Institute of Science, IsraelFrank Jülicher, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Germany

Cellular stress, Protein Folding, and DiseaseConner Sandefur, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Judy Kim, University of California, San Diego, Co-Chairs

Nikolay Dokholyan, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillRichard Morimoto, Northwestern University Santiago Schnell, University of Michigan

Biophysics of Personalized Medicine

Donald Engelman, Yale University, and Kathleen Giacomini, University of California, San Francisco, Co-ChairsCharles Cantor, Boston UniversityAtul Butte, Stanford University

stochasticity in Cellular Processes

Nathalie Questembert-Balaban, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and Rachel Kuske, University of British Columbia, Canada, Co-ChairsStanislas Leibler, Rockefeller UniversityElizabeth Read, University of California, Irvine

Liquid Protein Assemblies in spatial organiza-tion and ultrasensitive signaling in Cells

Julie D. Forman-Kay, Hospital for Sick Children, Canada, and Tanja Mittag, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Co-ChairsEdward A. Lemke, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, GermanyMichael K. Rosen, University of Texas Southwestern Medical CenterRégis Pomès, Hospital for Sick Children, Canada

Molecular self-Assembly: from in Vitro to Cellular systems

Roy Bar-Ziv, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and Suzanne Gaudet, Harvard University, Co-ChairsDavid Savage, University of California, BerkeleyTodd Yeates, University of California, Los Angeles

Biophysics in industry: Putting evolution in Practice

Kenneth Dill, Stony Brook University, and Timothy Gardner, Amyris, Inc., Co-ChairsChristopher Voigt, MITPeter Licari, Solazyme, Inc.


New Editorial Board Members Named

On July 1, Biophysical Journal added two new Associate Editors. Dave Piston, Vander-bilit University, will replace outgoing Michael Edidin, Johns Hopkins University, as Associ-ate Editor of the Cell Biophysics section, and E. Michael Ostap, University of Pennsylvania, will take over the Molecular Machines, Mo-tors, and Nanoscale Biophysics section from outgoing Associate Editor Yale Goldman, Univer-sity of Pennsylvania.

In addition, 25 new Editors will also begin three-year terms under the various sections. They are:

section i: Proteins and nucleic Acids

Dan Raleigh, Stony Brook University Jason Kahn, University of Maryland David Eliezer, Weill Cornell Medical College Jim Cole, University of Connecticut

section ii: Channels and transporters

Mirriam Goodman, Stanford University

section iii: Cell Biophysics

Jochen Guck, Cambridge University, United Kingdom Katharina Gaus, University of New South Wales, Australia

David Piston e. Michael ostap

Klaus Hahn, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Ruth Baker, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

section iV: Membranes

Tobias Baumgart, University of Pennsylvania Arne Gericke, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

section V: systems Biophysics

Ewa Paluch, Max Planck Institute, Germany James Keener, University of Utah Alan Grodzinsky, MIT

section Vi: Molecular Machines, Motors, and nanoscale Biophysics

Stefan Diez, Max Planck Institute, Germany Ram Dixit, Washington University Margaret Gardel, University of Chicago Antoine van Oijen, Groningen University, The Netherlands Hiroyuki Noji, University of Tokyo, Japan Kazuhiro Oiwa, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Kobe, Japan David Sept, University of Michigan Matthew Tyska, Vanderbilt University Laurent Blanchoin, CEA Grenoble, France David Warshaw, University of Vermont Bernhard Brenner, Hannover Medical School, Germany

Know the EditorsEach month we feature a Biophysical Journal (BJ) editor and highlight a BJ section.

E. Michael Ostap (pictured above), University of Pennsylvania, Associate Editor of the Molecular Machines, Motors, and Nanoscale Biophysics

Q: What is your area of research?

My laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms of cell motility. We are using a combination of biophysical, biochemical, and cell biological techniques to deter-mine how cytoskeletal motors carry-out their cellular functions. Over the past few years, much of our work has focused on the use of single-molecule biophysi-cal techniques to explore the relationship between

Biophysical Journal Editor’s Corner

neW BJ Virtual issue

Molecular Motors and Cytoskeleton

Read the best recent BJ papers in this area by going to www.biophysj.org.


mechanical load and biochemical kinetics of myosin motors. Our more recent work has also explored the interaction of motor proteins with lipid membranes and investigated the activity of motors in living cells.

Q: As Associate editor of the “Molecular Machines, Motors, and nanoscale Biophysics” section, can you tell us what type of papers BJ is looking for in that area?

We are eager to publish original biophysical studies related to:

•Mechanismsandregulationofmolecularmotorsand machines (e.g., cytoskeletal motors, helicases, polymerases, AAA proteins, etc.);

•Dynamics,regulation,andmechanicsofcytoskel-etal filaments;

•Sensingofforcesanddisplacementsinbiologicalsystems (mechano-biology);

•Theroleofmolecularmachinesandmotorsincomplex assemblies and emergent behaviors of these assemblies;

•Quantitativemodelsofmolecularmachinesthatshed light on mechanisms or suggest new tests of hypotheses;

•Useofmolecularmotors,filaments,andotherbiological macromolecules in engineered man-made devices; and

•Newtechniquesandanalysismethodsinnanobiology.

The Editorial Board (EB) for this section has un-dergone a substantial turnover as of July 1, and its membership continues to represent leaders in the biophysical areas articulated above. Notably, most EB members are cross-disciplinary researchers that effectively integrate fundamental biophysical studies with the fields of biochemistry, cell biology, and physiology.

Q: Why did you take on the role of Associate editor?

I consider the Biophysical Journal the most important publication in the field. I served for

two terms on the Editorial Board, and I highly value the thorough, thoughtful, and respectful review process that has been characteristic of the Journal. This is an exciting time for biophysics, as new technologies are bringing biophysical measure-ments to more areas of biology and impacting knowl-edge with healthcare relevance. I look forward to working with the Biophysical Journal and its authors to publish the best of these biophysical studies.

9

Grants and Opportunities

sunnybrook Prize

objective: To recognize excellence in undergraduate research.

Who May Apply: Students should be in their third or fourth year of study at a Canadian university by fall 2013 and have completed a research project with a focus on biomedical research.

submission Deadline: September 12, 2013

Website: http://sunnybrook.ca/research/

content/?page=sri-ed-undergrad-prize

Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences: investigator-initiated research projects

objective: Seeking projects that use theory, methods, and technologies from physical sci-ences, mathematics, computational sciences, and engineering to address major biological questions.

Who May Apply: Universities and colleges in the United States and non-profit, non-academic institutions.

submission Deadline: November 15, 2013

Website: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/

nsf13510/nsf13510.htm#elig


2013 Biophysics Summer Course BeginsThe sixth year of the NIGMS-funded Biophys-ical Society Summer Course: Case Studies in the Physics of Life kicked off on May 14.

Ten students from diverse academic, cultural, and geographic backgrounds are spending their summer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) studying biophysics. The 11-week course gives students the chance to complete their own biophysics-related research project in the lab with their self-selected men-tors. In addition to lab work, students attend lectures and seminars given by UNC faculty

and visiting speakers from biophysics programs around the country.

The full summer schedule, prepared by Course co-directors and Society members Mike Jarstfer and Barry Lentz, also includes professional development classes, a field trip to the beach, and a visit to a lab at Duke University. Bradley Falk, Sarah Marks, and Adrienne Synder, all graduate students at UNC, are acting as teach-ing assistants for the Course, hosting recitation sessions and giving quizzes.

Augustine Ajuogu northwest universityBiology Major

Quenton Bubb Johns hopkins universityBiophysics Major

Daniel Cantu texas A&M, Corpus ChristiBiochemistry and Molecular Biology Major

shawn helmueller university of Minnesota, Duluth Chemistry and Biochemistry Major

Mariel Jimenez university of Puerto rico, rio PiedrasPhysics Major

Joseph kousouros hunter CollegeBiology and Chemistry Major

Joshua Mannheimer Colorado state universityBiomedical engineering Major

Joseph Parkuniversity of FloridaMathematics and Physics Major

Jaime ramirezrio hondo CollegePhysics Major

Johnnie Wright indiana university- Purdue university indianapolisBiophysics Major

Summer Course 2013 Students


Student Spotlight LesLie ConWAy

university of Massachusetts Amherst Jennifer ross Lab

suggest a student or Postdoc to spotlight

Do you have a spotlight-worthy student or postdoc in your lab? send his/her name to [email protected].

Q: What initially attracted you to biophysics?

I have always loved microscopy because of its power to visualize cells and structures within cells. However, the ability to visualize single pro-tein molecules and to study the properties of these individual proteins is still absolutely amazing to me, and what led me to biophysics.

Q: What specific areas are you studying?

I am studying the cytoskeleton, specifically microtubules and the motor protein, kinesin-1.

Q: What is your current research project?

My current research project involves understand-ing how kinesin-1 functions to efficiently transport cargos on complex microtubule tracks.

Q: What do you hope to do after graduation?

After graduation, I ultimately hope to work as a research scientist in industry.

Q: If you could give one piece of advice to someone just starting their undergraduate science career, what would it be?

Join a lab where you can be exposed to research as soon as possible. This experience will not only prepare you for a future in science, but will help you get more out of your coursework as you will be better able to realize the direct implications of what you are learning in class.

Q: Why did you join the Biophysical Society?

I joined the Biophysical Society because I saw the Annual Meeting as a great avenue to present my research and receive valuable feedback from others in the field.

Q: What (or who) inspires you scientifically?

I am inspired by the fact that science is everywhere. Gaining a detailed understanding of the mecha-nisms behind what we see in nature and how cells carry out their specific functions fascinates me.

Jennifer Ross, Leslie’s PI says: It was my pleasure to nominate Leslie. She is a fantastic student researcher. It seems like only yesterday that Leslie came to do her rotation in my lab. Now, she has been here for five years!

Leslie was very interested in biophysics when she came to UMass, and rotated in the labs of two different biophysicists. I was very lucky that she chose my lab. She is a hard worker with amazing hands who can turn any written protocol from a paper into a working experiment. Further, she is also thoughtful and creative with an amazing attention to detail. She offers help and mentoring to other students and undergraduates, and is the person in the lab who people turn to first for help, which she is always willing to provide.

Leslie is a great microscopist. She wields our home-built total internal reflection fluorescence microscope for single molecule imaging like it is an extension of herself. She has an essential skill required for scientific measurements: the ability to spot something interesting and pursue it until you figure out what is happening. This has led her to a number of interesting and novel experimental results that have resulted in publications in Nature, Cell Biology, and PNAS. She will likely submit two more publications on similar novel results before she leaves. We are definitely going to submit some of her new, very cool work, to Bio-physical Journal. Although I am sad to have Leslie leave the lab, I know she will continue to impress and amaze. Having her represent my laboratory is truly an honor. It has been a privilege to serve as her adviser and mentor for the past five years.

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BioPhysiCAL soCiety neWsLetter JuLy 2013

11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 800 Rockville, Maryland 20852

Biophysical Society

September

september 3–7, 2013

Role of MDR Proteins in Pharmacokinetics and ToxicologyMasurian Lake District, Polandcrservices.debhosting.net/in-dex/speakers

september 29–october 3, 2013

Mechanobiology of Proteins and CellsSalisbury Cove, Mainewww.biophysics.org/2013maine/home/ tabid/4368/Default.aspx

October

september 29–october 4, 2013

Systems Dynamics in EndocytosisVillars, Switzerlandevents.embo.org/13-endocytosis/index.html

october 28–november 1, 2013

The 4th International Symposium on Dynamics of MitochondriaOkinawa, Japanwww.fbs.osaka-u.ac.jp/Dyna Mito2013/DynaMito2013/ Welcome.html

November

november 3–7, 2013

Cell-cell FusionEin Gedi, Israelevents.embo.org/13-cell-fusion/speakers.html

november 24–27, 2013

The 37th Annual Conference of the Australian Society for BiophysicsMelbourne, Australiawww.biophysics.org.au/

December

December 2–4, 2013

Complex Systems in ImmunologyBiopolis, Singaporeevents.embo.org/13-systems-immunology/speakers.html

December 2–5, 2013

Biological Interpretation of Next-Generation Sequencing DataCambridgeshire, Unite Kingdomhttp://www.ebi.ac.uk/train-ing/course/biological-nGs