Biophysical Newsletter - January 2014

5

Biophysical Society Newsletter

2014

JANUARY

Subgroups has been to elucidate the fundamental structural and dynamic properties of membrane domains in cells. To this end, my group has worked to develop bio- physical approaches to study membrane domains and protein and lipid dynamics in cells using fluorescence microscopy and live cell imaging, while at the same time maintaining an interest in how domains function at the cellular level. Our recent work has focused on understanding the nature of domains formed upon binding of the raft crosslinker cholera toxin to cell membranes, as well as investigating how these domains regulate the uptake of cholera toxin into cells. To com- plement our work in cells, we have begun to extend our work to model membrane systems, including giant unilamellar vesicles and plasma membrane-derived vesicles. We also use diffusion measurements as a tool to study protein complexes in their native environment

BIV The Biopolymers in vivo subgroup explores biology, in vivo, where it happens! We are really excited by the upcoming Annual Meeting: especially the Biopolymers in vivo (BIV) subgroup meet- ing and symposium! In the program, designed by Gilad Haran and Jeff Skolnick , attendees will hear from six inter- nationally renowned speakers, headlined by our keynote speakers Judith Frydman and Sunney Xie . The six talks will be accompanied by two postdoctoral talks selected from the submitted abstracts. The theme of the BIV subgroup symposium, Molecular Machines and How They Function Inside Cell s, echoes the overarching theme of the Annual Meeting. The talks will cover state-of-the-art computa- tional approaches to simulate cellular biophysics, as well as the newest and most exciting experimental techniques. Combining this with titillating biological questions will yield a super session that truly “Bridges the Sciences to Explore Biology.”We count on seeing you there! At our 12:15 pm Business Meeting, which precedes the symposium, we will discuss how this subgroup can serve the needs of this burgeoning community. Thanks to generous sponsors, we’ll have delicious munchies to stimulate a lively exchange of ideas. We are persuaded that biophysics is moving increasingly toward complex systems that better represent in vivo processes, and we wish to catalyze new collaborations and methods, to foster dialogues among scientists from different disciplines, and to encourage young scientists to em- bark on careers that take them into the in vivo world. Please join us for a stimulating afternoon of science in an exciting new area of biophysics. Lila Gierasch , Silvia Cavagnero , and Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede , Current, future, and past BIV chairs Jeetain Mittal , Secretary/Treasurer Simon Ebbinghaus , Joan Shea , Daryl Eggers , Members-at-Large Gilad Haran , Jeff Skolnick , Symposium Co-Chairs — Lila Gierasch , BIV Subgroup Chair

in cells. In collaboration with biomathematicians, we have developed methods to quantifying diffusion and reaction-diffusion using quantitative fluorescence microscopy approaches. Using these tools, we have addressed a number of questions in diverse areas of cell biology, including the principles that govern the revers- ible binding of proteins to DNA and membranes in cells and the size and stoichiometry of protein com- plexes in the autophagy pathway.

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