BPS2025 Full Program

Exhibitor Presentation Mad City Labs Inc 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm, Room 404AB Applications of Single Molecule Microscopy: Development Signaling to Sustainability Efforts This session will feature research performed using single molecule microscopy techniques. Penn State researchers will describe employing single molecule microscopy techniques to solve problems related to biofuels and microplastics, while research from UT-Austin will dem onstrate the potential of single-cell, single-molecule biochemistry for understanding developmental signaling. Applying Single-Molecule Microscopy Techniques to Sustainability Research Speakers William Hancock, Professor of Biomedical Engineering Daguan Nong, Assistant Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University Two pillars in sustainability research are using cellulase enzyme to gen erate biofuels from lignocellulose feedstocks, and developing enzymes that can degrade plastic waste. In this talk, we will describe biophysics research toward these goals that uses a custom-built Total Internal Reflection Flurorescence (TIRF) and Interferometric Scattering (IRM) microscope. Cellulases extract a strand from crystalline cellulose and processively degrade it. By imaging quantum-dot labeled Cel7 cellulase enzymes, we are able to observe enzymes landing on immobilized cellulose, moving at ~3 s-1 for tens of nm. PETases, discovered in 2016, degrade polyethylene terephthalate. We are investigating the reversible binding kinetics of Qdot-labeld PETase enzymes to infer their catalytic mechanism. These projects demonstrate how single-molecule micros copy can be applied to sustainability research. Multivalent Assembly of PAR-3/aPKC Complexes Establishes Cell Polarity in C. elegans zygotes Speaker Sheng-Ping Hsu, Graduate Student (Dickinson Lab), University of Texas - Austin Protein-protein interactions drive cell signaling and behavior. Studying these interactions in vitro is laborious and does not capture the cellular context where interactions occur. We utilize single-cell, single-molecule techniques to examine protein interactions in vivo. Here we present our unpublished work on cell polarity proteins in C. elegans. Using rapid single-cell lysis and single-molecule pull-down, we discovered coopera tive assembly and oligomerization of a key polarity complex. We used near-TIRF imaging with chimeric labeling in living embryos to verify that the cooperativity occurs in vivo. Moreover, we integrate mutants, knock downs, and drug treatments to determine that cooperativity results from multivalency and is essential for normal development. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of single-cell, single-molecule biochemistry for understanding developmental signaling. Early Careers Committee Meeting 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm, Room 405 Career Development Center Workshop Nailing the Job Talk, or Erudition Ain’t Enough 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Room 409B Congratulations! You’ve made it to the finals and are suddenly facing the most important presentation of your life. Answers to your questions about how to structure your presentation, how much detail to include, what they are really looking for, etc.

DNA origami structures serve as a functional template in multiple artifi cial and native molecular systems. We studied the development of order in 2D DNA triangular Rothemund lattices. By mobilizing the DNA origami adsorption on mica with varying buffer composition we looked at the temporal dependence between lattice order development and Na+ ion content in the studied sample with a temporal resolution of 1 frame/s. We monitored the structural photosensitive transition of photosensitive surfactants under external light-induced deformation. By simultaneous high-speed AFM measurements and switching the external wavelength illumination from 365 nm to 546 nm and vice versa, we could monitor and induce a reversible structural transition within the studied sample in real-time. Speaker Ming Ye, Application Scientist, Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology Division Snack Break 1:45 pm - 3:00 pm, West Exhibit Hall Poster Presentations and Late Posters 1:45 pm - 3:45 pm, West Exhibit Hall Teaching Science Like We Do Science 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, Room 403A This interactive, hands-on workshop focuses on practice-applicable, easy-to-use strategies and tools that educators at any level of biophysi cal science education can use to assess what their students take away from their teaching, and where changes to their educational methods might be appropriate. Moderators Yadilette Rivera-Colón, Bay Path University, USA Rita Sharp, University of Houston Honors College, USA Logan Kaler, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, USA Career Development Center Workshop The NIH K99/R00 Award – A Unique Award for Postdocs Who Have Demonstrated Readiness for Independence 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm, Room 409B Sustainability in Scientific Research 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm, Room 408B The Public Affairs Committee and the Committee on Sustainability will host a joint session exploring public and private funding opportunities available to biophysicists conducting research involving sustainability. Join us for this new session exploring how basic and biomedical scien tific approaches can impact public health, ecological, environmental, geological, geographic, and planetary-scale thinking. Moderators Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden Ranajeet Ghose, CUNY, USA Speakers Tammy Collins, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, USA Charlie Cunningham, National Science Foundation, USA Diony Duraes-Santos¸ Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Coun cil of Canada, Canada

F R I D A Y

S U N D A Y

23