Biophysical Society Bulletin | April 2026

Publications

Know the Editor Lalima K. Madan

Editor’s Pick

Proteo rhodopsin

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a)

Motor

Membrane

ATPase

Medical University of South Carolina Editor, Proteins Biophysical Journal

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Lalima K. Madan

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At a cocktail party of non-scientists, how would you explain what you do? I study how proteins “change their mind.” Proteins are the molecular machines that run everything in your body: they carry oxygen, fight infections, and send signals between cells. But here’s the thing: most proteins don’t just sit there pas sively waiting to be switched on or off. They’re constantly shifting shape, subtly, in ways that change what they do and how well they do it. My lab uses computer simulations to watch these shape changes in slow motion: think of it like having a super-powered microscope that can see individual atoms moving. We’re trying to figure out the hidden rules that govern these shape changes, because when those rules go wrong, you get diseases like cancer. Who would you like to sit next to at a dinner party (scientist or not)? Marie Curie , without a question. She is the only person in history to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, Physics and Chemistry, at a time when women in her home country of Poland weren’t even permitted to attend university. She found a way anyway. I’d want to ask her what it felt like to do world-changing work and still have to fight to be seen. As a woman in science myself, her story is my deepest inspiration. Her grit, her refusal to be diminished, fuels me every day— and I know I am not alone in that. Countless women in science carry her story forward into every lab, every lecture hall, every room where we are still, sometimes, the only one who looks like us. I think the conversation would last well past dessert!

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Biophysical Reports Dynamic velocity response of E. coli powered by proteorho dopsin Silvio Bianchi, Giacomo Donini, Maria Cristina Cannarsa, Giacomo Frangipane, and Roberto Di Leonardo “Proteorhodopsin, a well-known, light-activated proton pump, enables precise regulation of bacterial motility. Here, the authors present a systematic and quantitative analysis of light-driven E. coli propulsion, examining how response time and amplitude depend on illumination intensity and wave length. Measurements were used to test an electrical circuit model for the proton motive force, providing insights into proton fluxes through flagellar motors while simultaneously revealing the model’s limitations.” F-ATPase light on light off τ τ ATP τ stator c) d)

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Version of Record Published February 23, 2026 DOI: https:/doi.org/10.1016/j.bpr.2026.100254

Numbers By the Biophysical Society members may join and participate in multiple Subgroups to reflect their diverse research interests and expertise. Currently, 35% of BPS members belong to more than one Subgroup.

April 2026

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