Biophysical Society Bulletin | July/August 2019

Outreach

Quantitative Aspects of Membrane Fusion and Fission Padova, Italy | May 6–10, 2019

The Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting, “Quantitative Aspects of Membrane Fusion and Fission,” was heldMay 6–10, 2019, at the Historical Botanical Gardens in Padova, Italy. The meeting attracted a diverse group of 115 scientists from24 countries with interests in exo- and endocytosis, mitochondrial dynamics, other membrane remodeling events, and related protein dynam- ics and function. It addressed the growing need for collaboration between experimentalists and theorists to fully take advantage of the quantitative nature of the experimental observations in this field, to improve the quantitative descriptions of membrane events, and to provide theoretical and simulation-based hypoth- eses for experimental testing. This was reflected in the mix of speakers, with about one-third of the 44 talks presenting data analysis, modeling, or simulations of membrane behavior, and the remainder presenting experimental data. The elegant keynote lecture on the structure of the SNARE complex was delivered by Axel Brunger , Stanford University. In addition to the speakers, 60 posters were presented during active poster sessions, which allowed for intensive and lively direct interaction between the participants. The Biophysical Journal sponsored four awards for outstanding poster presentations by students and postdocs. Congratulations to all four awardees! There was also time for social interaction, visits to the Historic University of Padova (with Galileo’s Podium still in place), and the Historical Botanical Gardens, a UNESCOworld-heritage site. The meeting was organized by Morten Gram Pedersen , Universi- ty of Padova, Italy; Sebastian Barg , Uppsala University, Sweden; Jenny Hinshaw , NIH, USA; Dinah Loerke , University of Denver, USA; and Jakob Sørensen , University of Copenhagen, Denmark. We are thankful for additional support from the University of Padova, Avanti Polar Lipids Inc, and Chroma Technology.

Congratulations to the winners of the Biophysical Journal Poster Competition.

Biophysical Journal Poster Contest award winners: from left, Mico Božic, Sindhuja Gowrisankaran, Alenka Gucek, and Qiangjun Zhou.

Student Winners and Poster Titles: Mico Božic , University of Ljublijana, Slovenia

Astroglial Activation by Interferon Gamma Augments Cell Surface Expression of Antigen Presenting MHCII Molecules Via Increasing Exocytotic but Decreasing Endocytotic Vesicle Interactions with the Plasmalemma Sindhuja Gowrisankaran , European Neuroscience Institute, Germany Regulation of Vesicle Acidification by Rabconnectin-3A Postdoctoral Winners and Poster Titles: Alenka Gucek , Uppsala University, Sweden Fusion Pore Regulation by Camp and EPAC2 in Pancreatic Beta Cells Qiangjun Zhou , Stanford University, USA Molecular Mechanism of Neurotransmitter Release: Locked Until the Last Millisecond

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