Biophysical Society Bulletin | December 2020

December 2020

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

Future of Biophysics BurroughsWellcome Fund SymposiumSpeakers

Elisabeth Fischer- Friedrich

Tijana Ivanovic

Abhishek Singharoy

Chen Song

The 2021 Future of Biophysics Burroughs Wellcome Fund Symposium will again highlight the work of young researchers who are currently conducting cutting-edge research at the interface of the physical and life sciences. The speakers selected for the 2021 Symposium are Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich , TU Dresden, Germany; Tijana Ivanovic , Brandeis University, USA; Abhishek Singharoy , Arizona State University, USA; and Chen Song , Peking University, China. The Symposium, in its 12th year, will be held Tuesday, February 23, 2021, during the Biophysical Society virtual Annual Meeting. Patricia Bassereau and Bertrand Garcia-Moreno , Program Co-Chairs for the 65th Annual Meeting, will co-chair the symposium. “The Future of Biophysics Symposium is one of the highlights of our Annual Meeting. Four outstanding young biophysicists are selected each year from among dozens of entries and invited to present their work at the Symposium. The goal of the Symposium is to showcase our young talent in biophysics and also cutting-edge research in areas that reflect the richness and diversity of biophysics. These young colleagues and the many more who are not selected, truly represent the promising future of Biophysics.” — Patricia Bassereau and Bertrand Garcia-Moreno

President’s Symposium: Building an Inclusive Biophysical Society Cathy Royer – Biophysical Society President David Asai – Senior Director for Science Education, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Bil Clemons – Professor of Biochemistry, California Institute of Technology Yadilette Rivera-Colón – Assistant Professor of Biology, Bay Path University Billy Williams – Senior Vice President for Ethics, Diversity and Inclusion at the American Geophysical Union The scientific community, and indeed the world, has undertaken a great deal of introspection recently on the topics of inclusion and diversity. Organizations, associations, and institutions are faced with identifying a pathway that will create and sustain an inclusive community. However, before we begin to discuss what an inclusive Biophysical Society (BPS) would look like, we must first understand the baseline from which we begin. How do we define inclusion? Where are we starting from, and where do we want to go? How do we measure successful change in culture and attitudes outside of metrics? Join BPS President Cathy Royer as she leads a discussion based on input from BPS members featuring four invited speakers with extensive experience in working to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion for scientists at their organizations and across the scientific enterprise. We hope this session on Friday, February 26, during the Annual Meeting will serve as the beginning of the discussion about creating a welcoming, inclusive BPS

President’s Message Biophysicist in Profile Inside

2 4 6 8 9

Public Affairs Publications Member Corner Annual Meeting

10 12 13 14 16

Career Development

Outreach Donations

Upcoming Events

Connect with BPS

Merging generations of technologies and decades of experience: NEW Fluorolog-QM

The Fluorolog-QM is the fourth generation of the world famous Fluorolog all reflective, modular research spectrofluorometer. The Fluorolog-QM represents the culmination of decades of HORIBA’s industry-leading experience in development and manufacture of the highest sensitivity and greatest versatility of any commercial spectrofluorometer, while adding many new unique benefits.

This newest generation Fluorolog merges the best technology of the PTI QuantaMaster into the new HORIBA Fluorolog-QM:

FelixFL Software

• All reflective spectrofluorometer for perfect focus at all wavelengths from 180 to 5,500 nm. • The world’s highest guaranteed sensitivity specification at 35,000:1 signal to noise ratio for the Raman band of water using the FSD method. • The best optical purity with the longest focal length monochromators in the industry, providing the best possible stray light

rejection (350 mm for a single monochromator and 700 mm for a double monochromator). • Easy to use software for all acquisition and analysis of spectral and time-resolved data.

ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS FLUORESCENCE GRATINGS & OEM SPECTROMETERS OPTICAL COMPONENTS FORENSICS PARTICLE CHARACTERIZATION RAMAN / AFM-RAMAN / TERS SPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETRY SPR IMAGING

From the world leaders in fluorescence spectroscopy instrumentation

Find out more at: fluorolog.com email: info.sci@horiba.com 732-494-8660

President’s Message

Report fromCouncil The BPS Fall Council meeting usual- ly takes place in the Society head- quarters in Rockville, Maryland, and

Jennifer Ross , Council member and Nominating Committee Chair, presented the 2021 slate of candidates for Council approval. The Nominating Committee did an excellent job developing the slate, and the candidates will be announced June 1, 2021, when the election opens. As mentioned in our April column reporting on the Febru- ary Council meetings, a panel of BPS members worked on strategic recommendations for the Biophysical Journal . The recommendations spanned content, process, and structure and were provided to the Publications Committee over the summer. Publications Committee Chair Kathleen Hall partici- pated in the Fall Council meeting and shared the Committee’s response and proposed actions with Council. Council agreed that Biophysical Journal is a critical component of the Society both in terms of a venue for our members to publish and its financial contributions to the organization. Director of Pub- lications Beth Staehle provided an update on public relations and marketing efforts related to the journal including some new initiatives to help authors promote their work. The Publications Committee made a recommendation to Council for the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of Biophysical Reports . Work on the new journal is underway, and we look forward to our first call for papers in early 2021. BPS Treasurer Kalina Hristova presented the Finance Com- mittee approved budget for 2021 to Council. Due to impacts of the pandemic on the Annual Meeting and membership, the Society is facing a deficit operating budget for the up- coming year. However, due to good fiscal management, BPS has healthy reserves that will carry us through a down year without negatively effecting programs and services for you, our members. In fact, we aim to offer more programming and resources throughout 2021 than in previous years including different types of career panels and workshops, more virtual network- ing events, and more resources to support you and your work in the biophysics community. What else can we do for you? Please reach out to us at royerc@rpi.edu or jpesanelli@bio- physics.org with any suggestions or feedback as to how we can best support you now and into the future.

is preceded by a day of abstract programming for the upcoming Annual Meeting. As COVID-19 con- tinued to bear down on us, these meetings took place virtually.

Catherine A. Royer

The abstract programming meeting was held Wednesday, No- vember 4, and was a fun experiment in transitioning the usual array of hundreds of colored post-it notes on a custom board into a virtual patchwork of colored cells in a Google Sheet. The result was the creation of 56 platform sessions and 89 poster sessions that will accompany 16 Subgroup symposia, 8 spe- cial sessions, virtual exhibits, the BPS Lecture, the President’s Symposium on Building an Inclusive BPS, and more during the Annual Meeting February 22–26, 2021. We are excited about the excellent science and outstanding speakers, and hope you’ll join us for the meeting! Council met virtually on Thursday, November 5 and Saturday, November 7. We kicked off their discussions with an overview of the 2021 Annual Meeting virtual format. Program Chairs for 2021, Patricia Bassereau and Bertrand Garcia-Moreno , and 2022, Elizabeth Komives and Art Palmer , provided updates on their collaborative efforts regarding speakers and content for both meetings. Lukas Tamm , Thematic Meetings Committee Chair, and Suzanne Scarlata , BPS Conference Committee Chair, shared proposals for new events with Council. One of the challeng- es for these programs is the fact that all four of BPS’s 2020 small meetings were rescheduled due to the pandemic, and 2021 small meetings will likely be impacted as well. Council approved two proposals for new events, and the committee chairs and staff will work with all Thematic Meeting and BPS Conference organizers to ensure events are scheduled or rescheduled in order to provide safe and meaningful experi- ences for all involved. Council received proposals for two new Subgroups. Both were tentatively approved, and we look forward to announcing them in the next issue of the BPS Bulletin .

— Catherine A. Royer — Jennifer Pesanelli

December 2020

3

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

Biophysicist in Profile

Chris Mathes Areas of Research Characterization and regulation of ion channels

Institution AnaBios

At-a-Glance

The primary appeal of biophysics for Chris Mathes , Chief Commercial Officer of AnaBios Corpo- ration, is that “Biophysicists, especially the ion channel variety, get to see the behavior of these really important proteins in their natural environment — living cells! Not all disciplines can say this.” He adds, “I have really enjoyed the day-to-day variety and developing relationships with great people over the last 30 years.”

Chris Mathes

Chris Mathes grew up in Exeter, California, then a small town of about 6,000 people, in the San Joaquin Valley near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. He enjoyed growing up in a small town, where he was able to get involved in many after-school activities as a child, “without the fear of being cut, as can happen with big schools,” he shares. As a kid, he was very interested in how the brain works. “Personal com- puters were appearing, and I imagined implanting computers in the body to override brain signals. I also had great science teachers in high school that spurred me on,” he shares. “Inter- estingly, I skipped extra science classes in junior high school to take wood shop for two years. In retrospect, the skills I learned in shop became useful for building and tinkering with patch clamp rigs in grad school, as a postdoc, and as an auto- mated patch clamper.” He attended Stanford University from 1984 to 1988, earning his bachelor of science degree in biological sciences. When he started his undergraduate studies he was planning to become a medical doctor, though he was not looking forward to taking the MCAT exams required for entrance into medical school. He decided to give basic research a try during his freshman year and never looked back. After his graduation, Mathes began his PhD program in neu- roscience at the University of California, Los Angeles. He fell in love with ion channels while taking Francisco (Pancho) Beza- nilla ’s physiology course at the university. “During the course, Pancho and Julio Vergara took us through all the Hodgkin and Huxley papers, and we modeled the action potential with the equation using a Mac,” he explains. He completed his studies in 1995 and then took a postdoc position at Stanford University in the lab of William F. Gilly , studying potassium channels in squid giant fiber lobe neu- rons in collaboration with Clay Armstrong . He took a second postdoctoral position as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow with Reinhold Penner at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophys- ical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany. There he studied the

regulation of the calcium release-activated calcium current (ICRAC). Following his postdocs, Mathes joined Axon Instruments, where he served as project manager for the development of two of the first automated electrophysiology systems: the OpusXpress, an 8-channel oocyte system, and the PatchX- press, a 16-channel automated patch clamp with gigaseal recording. Working on getting the PatchXpress to market in a timely manner has been the biggest challenge of his career thus far. “The competition was fierce from other companies and the demand from pharma and biotech companies was high. In my role as project manager, I did not have direct reports which made leading the team challenging,” he shares. “However, I was blessed with a great team of software and hardware engineers. I fostered relationships with key mem- bers of these groups, and we worked hard to deliver a new product that really revolutionized drug discovery and cardiac ion channel safety testing.” From 2005 to 2012, Mathes worked for Sophion Bioscience, Inc., during which time he established and managed the US subsidiary of Sophion Bioscience A/S, which is based in Denmark. He oversaw the set-up of the laboratory facility and helped guide the company, especially in the areas of assay development and collaborations. Merritt Maduke , Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University, first met Mathes at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in 1996. “We connected over our love of ion channels, the coolness of electrophysi- ology, and our shared experiences as scientists of faith,” she shares. The two first collaborated years later, when Mathes was at Sophion. “The team was instrumental in helping me understand high-throughput screening technologies. Later, when Chris moved to ChanTest (now Charles River Labs), he connected me with Yuri Kuryshev , which led to a collaboration to develop novel inhibitors of the CLC-2 ion channel. A manu- script describing the work has been accepted for publication

December 2020

4

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

Biophysicist in Profile

Since May 2018, he has been CCO of AnaBios Corporation, where he guides business development, marketing, and con- tributes to the company’s overall strategic direction. AnaBios is a human tissue company that does physiology experiments with tissues and cells obtained from ethically consented donors. “AnaBios is a unique biotech company and pre-clinical contract research organization,” he says. “This year we have been collaborating with a neuroscience team from Eli Lilly to develop a novel human spinal cord electrophysiology assay for drug discovery applications.” He is focused now on the success of AnaBios. “There is such a strong need for translational assays in pre-clinical drug discovery. We are uniquely poised to help pharma and biotech develop better medicines in a timely fashion. In many ways human stem cells (i.e., iPSCs) have not lived up to the hope and hype of helping drug discovery,” he says. “AnaBios has stepped in to fill the gap with unique assays in pain research and cardiovascular disease using adult human primary cells. Down the road I plan to grow my consulting business to help pharma and biotech companies with ion channel and related projects.” Mathes has been a member of the Biophysical Society throughout his career and has found the connections fa- cilitated by his membership to be a big help along the way. “I have experienced Biophysical Society conferences from many different angles — presenter, attendee, and exhibitor. The Biophysical Society has been such an important part of developing my career for the past 30 years,” he says. “The relationships and connections have been extremely valuable at every step of my career, for example, meeting Reinhold Penner at conferences, then joining his lab as a postdoc, and interacting with industry scientists at the Axon and Sophion exhibits, which helped me to foster relationships that lead to future positions and opportunities.”

in PNAS.” She admires his open spirit, saying, “Chris is kind, respectful, resourceful, positive, generous, encouraging, and friendly to all. I want to be like that!” Mathes joined ChanTest Corporation as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) in 2012, where he helped grow the business to sell to Charles River in 2014. Mathes next served as CCO of Icagen, Inc., a company focused on ion channel and transporter drug discovery. He oversaw sales, marketing, and customer relations activities, as well as providing strategic guidance for the organization. Mathes dissects a squid for a fifth grade science class, showing off the squid giant axon, which can be seen with the naked eye. The teacher was his daughter Alisa.

The Biophysical Society is grateful to its Industry Partners.

GOLD

SILVER

For Industry Partner Membership information, contact alevine@biophysics.org.

December 2020

5

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

Public Affairs

US Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2021   As Congress returns to Washington, DC, following the elections, some still revelling from their wins, while others lick their wounds facing their new status as a “lame duck” Congressman or Senator, one thing still remains for them to do by December 11: enact a federal budget for 2021. Knowing how divisive election years can be for accomplishing the necessary work Congress does, it is unfortunately not a sur- prise that we are again working under a Continuing Resolution to extend our current funding levels. However, given that we are still in the midst of a pandemic, working to secure emergency supplemental funds makes having a full budget in place before the end of 2020 critical. With research just getting back on track and the full impact and cost of suspending and restarting research still to be realized, science needs to know that they have consistent, predictable funding for research available for 2021. Stay up-to-date and get involved with BPS’ advocacy efforts on the appropriations process and other issues important to basic and biomedical research at https:/www.biophysics.org/policy-advocacy/take-action.

ICE Proposes Rule to Set Time Limits on Non-Immigrant Student Visas For scientists and students in the United States under a visa program, 2020 has posed a constant threat of new regula- tions, proposed rules, and Executive Orders aimed at halting, or substantially altering the way these programs function. Non-immigrant student visa holders have been a significant target of these changes in the past few months. In July, an Executive Order was issued mandating that student visa holders return to in-person classes even if the academic institutions they attend mandate online-only classes due to the risk of COVID-19. Several universities filed suit against the government to stop this new rule from going into effect and putting students, faculty, and university employees at risk unnecessarily. As the court prepared to hear arguments, the government withdrew the Order and students were able to attend classes in accordance with the safety precautions of their university. More recently, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would eliminate the current approval period for non-immi- grant students to remain in the country until their studies are complete, known as Duration of Stay. The proposed rule would instead institute either two- or four-year approvals for

international students depending on the degree being pur- sued and their country of origin. There are currently 65 coun- tries of origin that would automatically result in a maximum two-year approval period to pursue studies. These visas are renewable for programs that require more than the approved period a student might be granted, but this renewal burden is of significant concern for students seeking doctoral degrees. ICE concluded that of all the non-immigrant student visas requested, only 20 percent of those are from students seek- ing a doctoral degree and therefore no significant burden on the government would be incurred from having to repeatedly review and renew extensions of stay for these individuals. The Biophysical Society (BPS) believes that this argument does not hold water. Of all the students applying to study in the United States, ICE is well-aware of the extended period of study associated with doctoral and professional degrees. They are also aware of the economic, research, and academic benefits associated with doctoral students. International students contributed nearly $41 billion and sup- ported more than 458,000 jobs in the US economy during the 2018–2019 academic year. In addition to teaching the next generation of scientific researchers as part of their academic duties, international student researchers contribute to and support economic and scientific research discoveries during their academic tenure in the United States and beyond.

December 2020

6

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

Public Affairs

Around theWorld Mexican Senate Votes to Cut Research Funding On Wednesday, October 21, the Mexican Senate voted to pass a bill that cuts funding from 109 public trust funds, which provide consistent scientific research funding, unrelat- ed to the national budget. About one-third of the $2.5 billion goes to directly support scientific research. Earlier in the year, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called for the cuts citing widespread corruption and doubt that the funds reach and benefit Mexican citizens. López Obrador has also said that the money is needed to support the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Opponents of the bill have expressed worry that this is a power move intended to make researchers more reliant on annual appropriations, which could fluctuate with political change and do not provide the stability of the trusts. Should the cuts move forward, re- searchers believe it could set back Mexican scientific research efforts by 30 to 40 years.

While BPS acknowledges that there may be individuals who might seek to ”game” the system of non-immigrant student visas, as also occurs within the other visa categories, the pro- posed changes in the NPRM will not prevent that from con- tinuing. International students are already carefully screened, vetted, and monitored through the US Department of Home- land Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. Setting a clock such as this only serves to dissuade students from coming to the United States to pursue their education and the consequences of that will be far reaching. BPS submitted formal comments, along with more than 28,000 individuals, academic institutions, and organizations objecting to the proposed rule and supporting the contin- uation of the Duration of Stay period currently in place for student visas. You can find theproposed rule at www.feder- alregister.gov/documents/2020/09/25/2020-20845/estab- lishing-a-fixed-time-period-of-admission-and-an-exten- sion-of-stay-procedure-for-nonimmigrant and the full BPS comments are available in the Newsroom at www.biophysics. org/news-room/bps-submits-comments-to-homeland-se- curitys-proposed-changes-to-non-immigrant-student-visa.

Grants & Opportunities

The Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry The purpose of this award is to foster and encourage basic chemical research and to recognize the value of chemical research contributions for the benefit of humankind. Who can apply: No self-nominations are allowed. Deadline: January 31, 2021 Website: https:/www.welch1.org/awards/welch-award- in-chemistry/welch-award-guidelines

L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Fellowships The L’Oréal USA For Women in Science fellowship program awards five women postdoctoral scientists annually with grants of $60,000 each for their contribu- tions in STEM fields, and commitment to serving as role models for younger generations. Who can apply: Applicants should have exceptional aca- demic records, clearly articulated research proposals with the potential for scientific achievement, outstanding let- ters of recommendation from advisors and demonstrat- ed success or interest in supporting women and girls in STEM through community service or outreach initiatives. Deadline: The application will open early December 2020, with a deadline of January 31, 2021. Website: https:/www.loreal.com/en/usa/articles/com- mitment/about-l-oreal/

December 2020

7

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

Publications

Know the BJ Editor Samrat Mukhopadhyay

organelles that are thought to control critical cellular func- tions. We are setting out to ask a few key questions about phase transitions of a range of neuronal IDPs. How does the dynamic interplay of chain-chain and chain-water interac- tions give rise to these liquid-like condensates? What are the key regulators of internal fluidity, diffusion, and viscosi- ty? Can we control the formation, dissolution, gelation, and solidification of these liquid droplets under the physiological condition? What are the molecular determinants of the permeability and the internal material property? How do the polypeptide chains commingle within the condensates to get sequestered and dynamically arrested resulting in pathological liquid-to-solid or amyloid-like transitions? An- swers to these questions will allow us to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of biological phase transitions associated with cell physiology and neurodegen- erative diseases. Who would you like to sit next to at a dinner party? Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and their fictional detectives, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Sherlock Holmes. After all, scientists are detectives as well as writers!

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali Editor, Proteins

Samrat Mukhopadhyay

What are you currently working on that excites you? My lab and I love dynamics. We are aficionados of intrin- sically disordered proteins (IDPs). IDPs lack well-defined shape and are highly dynamic protein chameleons. Their wiggling and jiggling fascinate us. We are intrigued by the coupled polypeptide chain and hydration water dynamics that govern the assembly and function of IDPs. In my lab, we are prying into some of these exciting dynamic assem- blies formed via liquid-liquid phase separation of IDPs. Intracellular phase transitions of highly dynamic proteins and nucleic acids result in the formation of membrane-less

Call for Papers: Teaching and Learning during COVID-19 Deadline for submissions: January 27, 2021

As the world continues to change and adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, many professions have been impacted. Some of the most extensive and challenging changes have occurred in education and in science. The Biophysicist , as the Biophysical Society open access journal of biophysics education, invites the submission of papers for a special issue on how COVID-19 has impacted and changed teaching and learning during the pandemic. The journal editors welcome papers that address online teaching, virtual and hybrid labs, remote teaching tools, distance research, and adapting teaching modules for the science of COVID-19. In addition, we also encourage reports that describe bio- physics educational materials that use COVID-19 as an example to highlight biophysical principles. For full informa- tion, please visit https:/www.biophysics.org/Portals/0/BPSAssets/Publications/Documents/TBP_COVID_CFP.pdf.

Journal Webpage and Submission site: www.thebiophysicist.org

Questions on article content: Contact Editor-in-Chief, Sam.Safran@weizmann.ac.il

December 2020

8

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

Member Corner

Members in the News

Seven BPS members were named in Cell Mentor’s list of 100 inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in the United States:

Enrique De La Cruz

Nancy Carrasco

Jorge Contreras

L. Fernando Santana Elba Serrano

Nancy Carrasco , Vanderbilt University and Society member since 1989; Jorge Contreras , Rutgers University and member since 2004; Enrique De La Cruz , Yale University and member since 1994; Rodrigo Maillard , Georgetown University and member since 2005, (not pictured); L. Fernando Santana , University of California, Davis, and member since 1995; Elba Serrano , New Mexico State University and member since 2012; Valeria Vasquez , University of Tennessee Health Science Center and member since 2003 (not pictured).

Three BPS members were elected to the National Academy of Medicine: Nancy Carrasco , Vanderbilt University and Society member since 1989; Scott Fraser , University of Southern California and Society member since 1997; Eric Gouaux , Oregon Health Science University and Society member since 1996.

Polina Lishko , University of California, Berkeley and Society member since 2015, was named a 2020 MacArthur Fellow.

Marc-Antoine Sani , University of Melbourne and Society member since 2006, was recognized by The Australian Research 2020 Mag- azine as a young up-and-coming research leader in Biophysics.

Jose Onuchic , Rice University and Society member since 1991, was appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Polina Lishko

Jose Onuchic

Student Spotlight Santosh Adhikari University of Minnesota Physics Department

What do you wish you knew before you began your studies in biophysics? During the first year of graduate school, I attended a research seminar given by Professor Elias Puchner . During his talk, I was intrigued by the power of superresolution imaging techniques to visualize and quantify single molecules in action inside living cells. I joined Professor Puchner’s lab and worked on advancing and applying the superresolution imaging techniques to quantify the spatiotemporal distribution of specific proteins inside living cells at the nanoscale. Coming with a very little undergraduate background in biology, I very quickly realized the importance of molecular biology and wet lab skills, as well as some computational skills. I also wish I knew the importance of continuous collaboration and networking within my specific field to exchange ideas and receive feedback early in my research.

Santosh Adhikari

December 2020

9

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

Annual Meeting

Share Your Science with a Global Audience Late Abstract Deadline: January 8 Do you have research findings you are ready to share but missed the early abstract deadline?

Submit a late abstract to present a virtual poster and receive valuable feedback. Posters, which are extremely important and popular with attendees, and are grouped by topic category to correspond with the presentations of abstracts submitted by the October 1 deadline. Abstracts Programmed

Did You Receive Your Programming Notice? Programming notices were sent the week of November 22 to those who submitted abstracts by the October 1 deadline. Please contact the Society Office if you did not receive notification.

This year’s programming meeting was quite different from past years in that it was held virtually rather than in person. Something we are all getting very familiar with. Prior to the meeting and following the regular abstract submission deadline, members of the Program Committee and Council reviewed and sorted submitted abstracts, which were programmed into 56 platforms and 89 poster sessions. Nearly 500 posters will be pre- sented each day of the meeting.

Thank you to our sponsors: Bruker Corporation Burroughs Wellcome Fund Dynamic Biosensors GmbH Elements SRL Leica Microsystems Mad City Labs Molecular Devices Nanion Technologies NanoSurface Biomedical Sophion Bioscience A/S

BPS members finalized the programming of the platform and poster sessions for the 2021 Annual Meeting. Members and staff participating in the meeting (left to right starting from the top row): Dorothy Chaconas , Umi Zhou , Elizabeth Komives , Jennifer Fraser , Jim Sellers , Art Palmer , William Kobertz , Jennifer Pesanelli , Patricia Bassereau , Patricia Clark , Bertrand Garcia-Moreno , and Joe Mindell . The Society would like to thank the Program Committee and Council who participate in the planning, reviewing, sorting, and programming each year. Their work ensures that the final program reflects the breadth of research areas in biophysics with as few programming conflicts as possible. The 2021 Program Committee members are Patricia Bassereau , Bertrand Garcia-Moreno , Patricia Clark , Michelle Digman , Teresa Giraldez , Ruben Gonzalez , William Kobertz , Anna Moroni , Jennifer Ross , and Joanna Swain .

December 2020

10

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

Annual Meeting

Register for Workshops Due to the number of virtual events taking place during the Annual Meeting, Workshops will be held over a two-week period following the Annual Meeting. Workshops differ from other sessions in that they are technique oriented. They cover emerging methods presented by widely acknowledged developers and experts who help the participants gain a working knowledge of new technologies. Workshop participation is included in the Annual Meeting registration fee; however, you will need to register separately for each workshop. For more information on registering, visit the Annual Meeting website. Linfeng Zhang , Beijing Institute of Big Data Research, China Deep Learning Assisted Multi-scale Methods for Molecular Simulation John Jumper , DeepMind, United Kingdom High Accuracy Protein Structure Prediction Using Deep Learning Gaetano Montelione , Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Combining Contact Predictions with Sparse NMR Data for Modeling Protein Structures and Dynamic Michael Doron , Broad Institute Image-Based Profiling for Biological Discovery Using Machine Learning Thursday, March 11, 2021 10:00 AM USA Eastern Workshop 2: Mass Spectrometry in the Cell Michael Marty , University of Arizona Mass Spectrometry Inside Membranes: Combining Native MS and Nanodiscs to Study the Biophysics of Membrane Proteins and Peptides Albert Heck , Utrecht University, The Netherlands Probing the Cellular Organization by Cross-linking Mass Spectrometry Vicki Wysocki , The Ohio State University Native Mass Spectrometry Guided Structural Biology: Protein and Nucleoprotein Complexes Tuesday, March 9, 2021 10:00 AM USA Eastern Workshop 1: Machine Learning

Stephen Fried , Johns Hopkins University Interrogation of Protein Refolding on the Proteome Scale with Mass Spectrometry – Methods and Insights Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:00 PM USA Eastern

Workshop 3: Challenges in Cryo-EM in Cell Alex de Marco , Monash University, Australia Democratizing in situ Structural Biology

Peter Peters , Maastricht University, The Netherlands Understanding the Invisible Hands of Sample Preparation for Cryo-EM Bram Koster , Leiden University, The Netherlands Zooming in on Cells and Molecules with Correlative Light and Electron Tomography Howard White , Eastern Virginia Medical School Time-resolved Cryo-EM: Improvements in Method and New Results Thursday, March 18, 2021 10:00 AM USA Eastern Workshop 4: Single-Particle Tracking Ulrike Endesfelder , Carnegie Mellon University Single-Particle Tracking of Dense and Highly Dynamic Data Khuloud Jaqaman , University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center Analysis of Receptor Movement and Interactions through Single-Particle Tracking Yoav Shechtman , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel Combining Point Spread Function Engineering with Deep Learning for Single-Particle Tracking Laurent Cognet , University of Bordeaux, France Nanoscale Exploration of Live Brain Tissues Based on Superresolution Microscopy and Near-infrared Emitting Carbon Nano tubes

biophysics.org/ 2021meeting

December 2020

11

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

Publications Career Devel pment

How to Find a Great Postdoc Position… in the Midst of a Pandemic

The postdoctoral stage is now seen as essential in cementing an early career sci- entist’s maturity and independence. The

burnout. Consider also your loved ones, including partners or chil- dren, when deciding tomove far away. Excellent local postdocs can be found in academia or industry. How do you job hunt for a great postdoc… during a pandemic: 1. Reach out to your immediate network. Word-of-mouth is particularly important, as these people have your best interests in mind. Many postdoc positions are not advertised widely. 2. Talk to your department faculty. They know you and your work and will likely know of several openings. Maybe you are teaching a graduate class for someone who knows of an amazing postdoc opportunity, and they will know you and your abilities so will be able to write you a letter of recommendation. 3. Use social media (strategically). Much has been said about what should be posted on social media, but a brief “I’mon the job market!” post can notify potential faculty of your availability for jobs you would otherwise never hear of. 4. Realize these are not normal times. Some universities have hiring freezes, and some visa issues might apply to non-citizens. 5. Look at places you would not normally consider. Have you ever considered working in Scandinavia? You will find some of the best work-life balance there, as well as generous maternity leave (and paternity leave!). Have you ever considered China or South Korea? These countries pay very generous postdoc salaries, with the potential for negotiation based on experience. 6. Deliver an online talk. In certain cases, you will be asked to give a presentation to the prospective group. During COVID-19, this will be via Zoomor Teams. The same advice applies as for in-per- son oral presentations, however, since you won’t be able tomeet in person with the labmembers, it might be more challenging to ask questions. Try to plan the list of questions you have to the prospective lab and its members. Good luck! — Molly Cule

postdoc is an excellent opportunity to improve yourself and grow beyond your PhD years, particularly if you had issues during your PhD; the postdoc al- lows you to turn the page. However, what exactly constitutes a “great” postdoc position, and how does one go about finding one? Furthermore, how do you job hunt during a pandemic? A great postdoc position should comprise some of the following features. 1. Opportunity to grow scientifically. There are benefits to doing something different in the eyes of university search committees, as this shows you challenged yourself and are likely to do so in the future. However, it’s still seen as growth if you keep working on a topic similar to your PhD, while aiming to gain new perspec- tives or to use newmethods. It’s also possible to choose a differ- ent systemor area of interest, while using the same methods you perfected in your PhDwork. 2. A project that builds on your story as a researcher. Tenure- track search committees will want to see that you challenged yourself and can bring a broad network of projects or collabora- tions. The postdoc is essential in broadening the synergy between your research projects and collaborations. Ideally, you can take the project with you when applying for tenure-track professor positions. 3. Encouragement to grow your network of scientific collabora- tions. If you can, go somewhere to work with a mentor who will want to keep collaborating with you in the future. A supportive mentor can really make a significant difference in your career. 4. Quality of life. The postdoc lies at the beginning or middle stage of your academic career, or possibly as a steppingstone into other avenues. For this reason, the postdoc is a marathon not a sprint. Aim tomaintain a good work-life balance to avoid career

There are over 1,700 Society members who are part of the FaB (Find a Biophysicist) Network. If you are looking to find peers, mentors, K-12 classroom visitors, speak- ers, science fair judges, or Student Chapter sponsors, search the database to find

your match. Numbers By the

December 2020

12

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

Outreach

SACNAS: Celebrating ScienceWizardry and Protein Design

Some of youmay not have heard of SACNAS, a national society devoted to the advancement of Chicanos, Latinos, and Native Americans in science. SACNAS has local chapters at many US academic institutions and has served for years as a source of encouragement and professional development for generations of young underrepresented scientists. In addition to celebrating diversity and inclusion at all levels, the SACNAS National Confer- ence hosts scientific talks on a broad variety of topics with the specific goal of fostering excitement for cutting-edge science, in- cluding biophysics, among young underrepresented scientists. In addition, young SACNAS attendees learn about graduate school, industrial, postdoctoral, and academic job opportunities. Due to the challenges posed by the worldwide pandemic, this year the SACNAS National Conference was held virtually, October 19-24. OnWednesday, October 21, a STEM scientific session sponsored by the Biophysical Society and organized by member Silvia Cavagnero highlighted cutting-edge developments in the field of protein design. This session was titled “ScienceWizardry: Designing New Proteins to Improve People’s Lives,” and featured a diverse group of leaders in the field. A brief general introduction explained the meaning of the word biophysics, which employs a variety of cross-disciplinary quantitative approaches to address compelling biological questions. The introduction also highlighted the key role played by the Society over the years, including the fostering and dissemination of new ideas and tools in basic and biomedical sciences. The first speaker was Vatsan Raman , an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Vatsan explained how his group uses synthetic biology and protein evo- lution to develop powerful new phages aimed at killing harmful pathogenic bacteria. Tanja Kortemme , a Professor of Bioengineer- ing and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California, San

Francisco spoke next. Tanja highlighted how computer-assisted protein design leads to the development of custombiosensors and novel proteins bearing unprecedented folds. The following presentation was by David Lynn , Professor of Chemistry and Biology at Emory University. Taking a new twist, David explained the role of nested biomolecular information and Darwinian selection in proteinmisfolding, aggregation, and liquid-liquid phase transitions. These events are important because they are directly related to a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including those involving prion proteins. David’s approach aims at both understanding and potentially controlling and preventing the above processes. The last speaker was David Baker , a pioneer in protein design and structure prediction, who is a Professor of Biochemistry and head of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington, Seattle. David’s lecture focused on two developments of direct relevance to the worldwide pandemic: how to detect and inactivate the COVID-19 virus. The lecture beautifully showed how the Baker laboratory has been able to custom-design two novel protein systems. The first is able to detect the presence of the virus at high sensitivity, while the sec- ond specifically binds COVID-19’s envelope, leading to decreased infectivity. Overall, the session provided an informative glimpse at how biophysics discloses nature’s secrets and improves human conditions on earth. Speakers of SACNAS scientific session on “Science Wizardry: Designing New Proteins to Improve People’s Lives”. From left to right: Silvia Cavagnero, Vatsan Raman, Tanja Kortemme, David Lynn, and David Baker.

Important Dates Congressional Fellowship Application Deadline December 15, 2020 Society Award Nominations Open January 1, 2021 Late Abstract Submission Deadline January 8, 2021 Guest Blogger Application Deadline January 15, 2021

Affiliate Event Registration January 15, 2021 Hamburg Abstract Deadline January 22, 2021 Submission Deadline: The Biophysicist Special Issue Teaching and Learning during COVID-19 January 27, 2021

December 2020

13

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

Donations

Society Donors The Biophysical Society gratefully acknowledges the individuals who made donations to Society programs between November 1, 2019, and October 31, 2020. Donations allow for the growth each year in travel awards, public affairs involve- ment, Society awards, and other outreach activities that could not otherwise be undertaken. Donors’ names are listed below. $5,000 and above Jean Chin $1,000–$4,999 Kunpeng Li John Xiaohe Li Polina V. Lishko Marjorie L. Longo

Arthur G. Palmer Evan T. Powers Kenneth A. Taylor Yuichi Togashi Francesco Tombola $50–$99 Ronald F. Abercrombie Hans-Juergen Apell Christopher P. Baines Dorothy Beckett Penny Beuning Paul S. Blank Richard G. Brennan James H. Davis David J. DeRosier Paul Dreizen Gerald W. Feigenson Robert J. French Ronald W. Holz Shinichi Ishiwata Roger E. Koeppe Richard Kriwacki Roderick D. Macgregor Donald H. Martin E Gerald Meyer Gary J. Pielak Elizabeth Rhoades Takeshi Sakamoto David F. Sargent Alfons F. Schulte Frances Separovic Asher R. Sheppard Frank D. Sonnichsen Carl Trindle Peter H. von Hippel Under $50 Vicente M. Aguilella Bogdan P. Amuzescu Bahman Anvari Miguel A. Aon Charles L. Asbury Vladik A. Avetisov Franklin Aviles-Vazquez Nirmalya Bag

Sergey M. Bezrukov Karin B. Busch Paul D. Butler Otger Campas Matthew A. Caporizzo Anne E. Carlson Mohamed Chahine Bojun Chen Julio F. Cordero-Morales Sonia C. Cortassa Roger W. Craig Rodrigo F.M. De Almeida Laurent M. Dejean Alexander R. Dunn Elliot L. Elson Sharyn A. Endow Lucy R. Forrest John A. Fuller Jesus Gerardo Galaz Montoya Maria C. Garcia Akhil Gargey Chris D. Geddes Michael A. Geeves Elka R. Georgieva Arne Gericke Anne Gershenson Stephan L. Grage Enrico Gratton Bo Gu Carol K. Hall Ahmed A. Heikal Brian E. Hingerty John P. Hoben Erik D. Holmstrom George M. Holzwarth Aaron A. Hoskins Anne M. Houdusse Vassily Hatzimanikatis Sanaria Hawro Yakoob Yao-Te Huang Leopold L. Ilag Nazar Ileri-Ercan Suphanat Isarangkoon Na Ayutthaya David M. Jameson Sajith A. Jayasinghe Wojciech K. Kasprzak

Marvin W. Makinen Leonel S. Malacrida Joaquim T. Marques Jeffrey A. McCausland Leslie C. McKinney C. James McKnight Mario J. Mendez Keith W. Miller Ali Mohebi Joao H. Morais Cabral Ishita Mukerji Rahul Munshi Thomas Nowak Edward P. O’Brien Rikuo Ochi Kazuhiro Oiwa José N. Onuchic Michael R. Otto Sanjay C. Panchal Sunil Pathak Camillo Peracchia Guillermo J. Perez Horia I. Petrache Gabriele Pfitzer Sally C. Pias Tanadet Pipatpolkai Andrew J. Plested Steven S. Plotkin Tatyana E. Polenova Aleksandra Radenovic Hamidreza Rahmani Vijay Rajagopal Cynthia S. Randall Dilson E. Rassier Hannah Reed Tatiana K. Rostovtseva Ioulia F. Rouzina Amy C. Rowat Thomas P. Sakmar Hugo Sanabria Jorge A. Sanchez Timothy E. Saunders Sergey K. Sekatskii Jingyi Shi Soya Shinkai Anna Moroni Elisha Moses Emmanuel E. Moutoussamy

Henry G. Brown Peter S. Coleman Sue K. Donaldson

$200–$4999 Mordecai P. Blaustein Walter J. Chazin Jeff Gelles Peter W. Holloway Chris Lingle Joseph A. Mindell Lars Nordenskiaed John S. Olson David W. Piston Thomas D. Pollard Neal Shepherd Henry W. White Yin Yeh $100–$199 Roger M. Burnett David S. Cafiso Donald L D Caspar Baron Chanda William A. Cramer Timothy A. Cross James P. Dilger Jane Dyson Robert H. Fairclough Juli Feigon Louise M. Garone Norma J J. Greenfield Ryota Iino Karen S. Jakes Chin O. Lee Sherwin S. Lehrer Barry R. Lentz Richard D. Ludescher Richard W. Lymn Robert C. MacDonald Hunter Martin

Satoshi Katsube Jefferson Knight Noriyuki Kodera Raphael C. Lee Edward A. Lemke

Maciej Baginski Gisela Beutner

December 2020

14

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

Donations

Officers President Catherine A. Royer President-Elect Frances Separovic Past-President David W. Piston Secretary Erin Sheets Treasurer Kalina Hristova Council Linda Columbus Michelle A. Digman

Anand P. Singh Spencer Smyth Hernando Sosa Robert A. Spangler Justin M. Spiriti Kerry M. Strickland Ildikó Szabó Hiroaki Takagi Cherie S. Tan Masato Tanigawa

David H. Thompson Arthur D. Tinoco Gilman E. Toombes Kazuo Umemura Richard D. Veenstra Katsuzo Wakabayashi

Michael A. Weiss Sarah A. Woodson Christopher M. Yengo Shinya Yoshikawa Bernard Yurke E. Lynn Zechiedrich Zhi Wei Zeng Martin J. Zuckermann

Quan Wang Yuhan Wang Alan J. Waring Aguan D. Wei

Erin C. Dueber Marta Filizola Gilad Haran

Francesca Marassi Joseph A. Mindell Carolyn A. Moores

Please Consider Making a Donation

Anna Moroni Jennifer Ross David Stokes Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede Biophysical Journal Jane Dyson Editor-in-Chief The Biophysicist Sam Safran Editor-in-Chief

Your tax-deductible donation will help make a difference to the biophysics community. Your donation will help support travel awards, public affairs activities, and resources and programs for biophysicists. With over 7,500 Society members who work in academia, industry, and government agencies throughout the world, together we can strengthen and advance the field of biophysics. To donate, please visit www.biophysics.org/donate

Society Office Jennifer Pesanelli Executive Officer Newsletter Executive Editor Jennifer Pesanelli Managing Editor Beth Staehle

Production Catie Curry Ray Wolfe Proofreader/Copy Editor Laura Phelan The Biophysical Society Newsletter (ISSN 0006-3495) is published eleven times per year, January-December, by the Biophysical Society, 5515 Security Lane, Suite 1110, Rockville, Maryland 20852. Distributed to USA members and other countries at no cost. Cana- dian GST No. 898477062. Postmaster: Send address changes to Biophysical Society, 5515 Security Lane, Suite 1110, Rockville, MD 20852. Copyright © 2020 by the Biophysical Society. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

December 2020

15

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