Biophysical Society Bulletin | January 2019

Publications

Publications

Know the Editor Bridget Carragher

Biophysical Journal Welcomes New BoardMembers The 2019 Editorial Board has been finalized and the Journal is pleased to welcome the following new members to the board: Christopher Ahern , University of Iowa Doug Barrick , Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University Philip Biggin , Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford Scott Blanchard , Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College Olga Boudker , Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College Sudha Chakrapani , Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University Guy Genin , School of Engineering and Applied Science, Washington University in St. Louis Ido Golding , Baylor College of Medicine Pablo Iglesias , Department of Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University Meyer Jackson , Department of Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin, Madison Alexander Kornev , Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego Ilya Levental , Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, University of Texas Health Science Center Jan Liphardt , Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University Lisa Manning , Department of Physics, Syracuse University Susan Schroeder , Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Oklahoma Toshia Tsukiyama , Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Dimitrios Vavylonis , Lehigh University Sarah Veatch , Department of Biophysics, University of Michigan Ahmet Yildiz , Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley In addition, Vasanthi Jayaraman and Jason Kahn , while not new to the Journal’s Editorial Board, have been promoted to Associate Editors. Submit Your Next Paper to Biophysical Journal https:/biophysj.msubmit.net

National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy Editor, Proteins

Bridget Carragher

Biophysical Journal Selects Paper of the Year for 2018 The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Bin Xu and Alexandra Jilkine , University of Notre Dame, have been selected as the winners of the Biophysical Journal Paper of the Year Award for 2018. Their winning paper is titled “Modeling the Dynam- ics of Cdc42 Oscillation in Fission Yeast.” The paper was published in the February 6, 2018, issue of Biophysical Journal . This award was established to recognize young investigators who publish an outstanding paper in the journal within the pre- vious 12 months. Papers are nominated for the award by the Associate Editors of the Biophysical Journal . Jilkine is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Notre Dame where Xu is a Lumpkins Postdoctoral Research Associate. “It is critical that the research community continue to promote young scientists as they grow into their careers,” said Jilkine. “We are honored to accept the Paper of the Year Award from the Biophysical Journal and look forward to sharing our research at the upcoming BPS Annual Meeting.” Although the award is usually given to the corresponding author, in this case Xu and Jilkine were co-corresponding authors and will share the monetary prize. In addition, each will receive a plaque and Xu will present a short talk at the Award Symposium, during the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland. Open Access – Surveying the Landscape By now the science community is well aware of Plan S, the initiative by a group of European government funding agencies to ensure that by 2020 all authors whose research is funded by the now 17 signatory countries only publish in open access jour- nals that abide by the ten rules of Plan S. A brief article on this subject appeared in the November issue of the BPS Bulletin (Page 5). Since that article, the Welcomme Trust and the Gates Foundation have signed on to Plan S; however, there has also been backlash from the science community in the form of an open letter from researchers to European funding agen- cies, academies, universities, research institutions, and decision makers. A copy of the open letter, a list of signatories, and other information is available at https:/sites.google.com/view/plansopenletter/home. Meanwhile, in the United States, some scientific societies have been meeting with the Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) regarding possible open access mandates for government funded research. Several society publishers believe that as soon as a head of OSTP is approved, there will be an announcement on this issue. A recent meeting of 22 scientific societies that publish journals outlined questions and concerns surrounding possible zero embargo periods and discussed ways to move forward, including doing a better job of communicating the value of rigorous peer review, managing that process, and market- ing and distributing research.

What are you currently working on that excites you? As everyone who knows me is aware, I have always been interested in automation and streamlining the methods of cryo electron-microscopy (cryo-EM). Cryo-EM is a method for determining the structure of macromolecular machines in the cell; the method underwent a revolution about five years ago and is now becoming well established as a struc- tural technique. Most recently my group has been trying to improve the methods for preparing specimens for cryo-EM. This entails reducing a bulk sample to a thin film (<100nm thick), supported on a holey carbon or gold film and supported by a copper or gold mesh grid, and then rapidly plunging the grid into a good cryogen to snap the thin film from the liquid to the solid state. In this so called solid “vitrified” state the sample can be examined in the electron microscope and the images can be used to obtain near atomic resolution maps of the molecules. The process of vitrifying the samples is still somewhat of an art form and there are a number of physical difficulties that can alter or destroy the sample when prepar- ing them in this way. We are developing robotic devices and new ways of making thin films of samples that we hope will ameliorate these negative effects. I am definitely working beyond the far edge of my understanding of the physics and engineering on these issues; that is certainly exciting, but also encourages me to discuss this problem with scientists and engineers from all sorts of other disciplines. How much more fun could that be? Who would you like to sit next to at a dinner party? (Scientist or not) So many people, but for sure any of the many women who have forged a path forward and made it possible for me and others like me to be writing these words, so that I could tell them thanks for the inspiration and all the hard work. How about: Marie Curie , Rosalind Franklin , Ada Lovelace , Emmy Noether … the list of women that have paved the way is very long and these are only the ones that immediately spring to mind. And then also Janet Iwasa , Jennifer Doudna , and how about those Nobel Prizes this year? Finally!

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January 2019

January 2019

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