Biophysical Society Bulletin | December 2018

Thematic Meeting

Member Corner

Members in the News

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Ken Dill , State University of New York, Stony Brook, and Society member since 1979, received the Max Delbruck Prize, awarded by the Division of Bio- logical Physics of the American Physical Society, to recognize and encourage outstanding achieve- ment in biological physics research.

Ken Dill

Jose Rodriguez , University of California, Los Ange- les, and Society member since 2008, was named one of the 12 Rising Stars in Chemistry 2018 by Chemical Engineering News.

Attendees from across the globe met at Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine to discuss and share their research.

The Heart by Numbers: Integrating Theory, Computation, and Experiment to Advance Cardiology Berlin, Germany | September 4–7, 2018 The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin hosted the Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting The Heart by Numbers: Integrating Theory, Computation, and Experiment to Advance Cardiology September 4–7, 2018, with more than 120 participants. The spirit of the meeting is captured by both its title and the name of the hosting institute. The geneticist Timoféeff-Ressovsky and the physicist Delbrück collaborated in the conduction and analysis of experiments on spontaneous and radiation induced mutations. Their quantitative analysis of the experiments was inspired by ideas on the interaction of radiation and molecules emerging from quantum phys- ics, which was taking shape at that time, and the theory of stochastic processes. This interdisciplinarity led to valuable conclusions on the molecular nature of the gene. Cardiac research has always been a major part of the re- search represented by the Biophysical Society. It also has a long tradition of quantitative approaches and interdisciplinary research practice, which might be in part due to the mechan- ical function of the organ, but goes far beyond that (1,2). The meeting in Berlin illustrated that quantitative research and interdisciplinarity remain a characteristic of the field while the scientific focus and the specific challenges change. The degree of maturity reached by biophysical mathematical modelling in cardiology has been illustrated most impressive- ly by talks in basic research and in translational applications. Basic research uses experimental and theoretical results on an equal footing to conclude on mechanisms, structures, and components of pathways. Personalized virtual-heart simula- tions guide the ablation of infarct-related ventricular tachy- cardia and modelling results guide defibrillation strategies. Next to those traditional approaches to current questions, new methods and new angles of view have entered the

field. The recent, game changing expansion in the abilities of imaging and omics data allow for another level of model quantification merely by access to data, but also put param- eterisation into a new perspective. Both imaging as well as omics data demonstrate cell-to-cell variability. This has been picked up by modelling already. Living up to the time of high through-put single-cell measurements and omics data, mod- elling presented in several talks revealed that the unique set of parameter values for cell modelling does not exist, rather a whole population of functional models accommodates mea- sured variability. The Biophysical Journal sponsored four awards for outstanding poster presentations by students and postdocs (see Novem- ber 2018 BPS Bulletin ). The Thematic Meeting in Berlin leaves us with the impression that cardiac research will be quantitative and interdisciplinary in the coming developments toward clinical applications of modelling, basic research, and integration of new data and methods. In this aspect, the field might become an inspiring model for other areas in the Biophysical Society. The meeting was organized by James Weiss , University of California, Los Angeles; Zhilin Qu , University of California, Los Angeles; Karin Sipido , The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Gernot Plank , Medical University of Graz; and Martin Falcke , Max Delbrück Center Berlin; and supported by the Biophysi- cal Society, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FA350/14-1), the German Center for Cardiovascular Research DZHK, the Berlin Institute of Health BIH, and the Center for the Study of Com- plex Chemical Systems Berlin. 1. Wiener N , Rosenblueth A (1946.) The mathematical formulation of the problem of conduction of impulses in a network of connected excitable elements, specifically in cardiac muscle. Archivos del Instituto de Cardiolo- gia de Mexico 16(3):205–265 (in English). 2. Rosenblueth A , Wiener N (1945.) The role of models in science. Philosophy of Science 12(4):316–321.

Jose Rodriguez

Important Dates BPS Thematic Meetings 63 rd BPS Annual Meeting March 2–6, 2019, Baltimore, Maryland Late Abstract Submission and Registration Deadline: January 28, 2019 Multiscale Modeling of Chromatin: Bridging Experiment with Theory March 31–April 5, 2019, Les Houches, France Abstract Submission & Registration Deadline: December 1, 2018

Quantitative Aspects of Membrane Fusion and Fission May 6–10, 2019, Padova, Italy Abstract Submission Deadline: January 14, 2019 Early Registration Deadline: February 1, 2019 Revisiting the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology at the Single-Molecule Level July 15–18, 2019, Lima, Peru Abstract Submission Deadline: March 8, 2019 Early Registration Deadline: April 5, 2019

Student Spotlight Shannon Esswein

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology As you move forward in science, what type of research do you see yourself doing? Why?

Shannon Esswein

I plan to focus my research on understanding molecular mechanisms of disease and designing novel proteins for disease detection and delivery of therapeutics. By utilizing a combination of tools in chemical biology, structural biology, and drug discovery, I aim to design innovative strategies to identify new thera- peutic targets and improve treatment options.

December 2018

December 2018

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T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y