Biophysical Society Bulletin | July-August 2024

July/August 2024

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Eric Gouaux Named 2025 BPS Lecturer Eric Gouaux , who holds the Jennifer and Bernard Lacroute Endowed Chair in Neuroscience Research at the Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, has been selected as the 2025 BPS Lecturer for the Biophysical Society’s 69th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California. He is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Gouaux is widely recognized as an influential leader in revealing structures and mechanisms of synaptic receptors and transporters, using x-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. He has been a BPS member since 1996 and is a past recipient of the Society’s Anatrace Membrane Protein Award. His lecture, “From Clamshells to Clefts: The Molecular Basis of Synaptic Transmission,” will be delivered on Monday, February 17, 2025. Eric Gouaux

2024 BPS Elections Now Open Voting is open June 1 through August 1

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Council Update

Communities

Biophysicist in Profile

Career Development

Public Affairs Publications Annual Meeting

Member Corner In Memoriam Important Dates

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Council Update

Updates from Spring Council in Buffalo It is customary that the Spring Meeting of the BPS Council, one of four such meetings annually, is hosted by the President. It was a great pleasure and honor for me to share my love of Buffalo, New York, a place I have called home since 1992, with members of the BPS Council and staff who attend ed Spring Council this past May. In this column, I share with you a

benefit from more concerted and intentional actions that capi talize on our brand of quantitative rigor and historical authority. Jennifer Pesanelli , BPS Executive Officer, presented results from research of available professional offerings and, following some discussion, Council approved investing in a comprehensive research and strategy project that would include a branding audit. In light of our ongoing association management software upgrade, the project was deemed especially well-timed and was met with enthusiasm. Meetings. The BPS Annual Meeting represents a major activity of the Society. Council reviewed statistics collected by staff, feedback from attendees and speakers, and formal surveys and informal comments and suggestions from members to evalu ate how well the 2024 Annual Meeting reflected our values and fostered our mission. We especially considered the feedback we received on new programming initiated by Taekjip Ha , BPS Past President, and results from our fourth demographic and inclusion survey, which we decided to modify slightly and to continue. In addition to the BPS Annual Meeting, the Society organizes BPS Conferences, which are small, recurring, multi-day scien tific meetings located within the United States (www.biophys ics.org/meetings-events/bps-conferences), and BPS Thematic Meetings, which are small, stand-alone scientific meetings lo cated outside the United States (www.biophysics.org/themat ic-meetings#/). While both activities continue to require BPS investment, they have been well received by attendees, and they support our mission and specific strategic goals. Council reaffirmed their support for the small meetings program. Subgroups. Currently the BPS sponsors 18 Subgroups, which meet for a half-day session on the first day of each Annual Meeting. For many members the Subgroups have been the initial home and entryway into BPS. Many of our regular mem bers identify strongly with and are actively engaged with a BPS Subgroup. Importantly, Subgroups mirror the dynamic ebb and flow of subdisciplines and specializations within biophysics and can be a valuable means to identify emerging fields. However, the limitations of time within the already packed schedule of the Annual Meeting and of space at the convention centers that house the meeting have set a hard ceiling on the practical number of Subgroups. The Council discussed options for ac commodating additional Subgroups and decided to reconsider the issue more fully in the fall. Awards. Council reviewed statistics on the number of nomi nations and the demographics of the nominees for the various categories of BPS Awards. It was apparent that both the num ber of nominees for certain awards and the overall diversity of nominees has decreased. Several potential causes and

Gabriela K. Popescu

summary of discussions and decisions as they pertain to BPS governance. Also shared is a collage of the images my guests took with them from Buffalo, which perhaps will inspire you to discover the treasures of Western New York. As you know, Council consists of 17 elected members (www. biophysics.org/About-BPS/Governance/leadership) and is collectively “responsible for the fulfillment of the scientific and business obligations of the Society,” according to the Soci ety’s bylaws (www.biophysics.org/about-bps/governance/ bylaws). However, the responsibility for carrying out day-to day operations and execution of the strategic plan falls on our professional staff. The Spring Meeting is therefore a unique and necessary opportunity to convene leadership and staff, away from the excitement and demands of the BPS Annual Meeting, to reflect on how well our ongoing activities align with our values and whether they meet our goals. Therefore, at this meeting, our job was two-fold: to evaluate to what extent the Society operates effectively and lawfully and, if appropriate, to recommend changes that would improve this alignment and our effectiveness. Strategic Plan. The first order of business was an in-depth discussion of the strategic plan (www.biophysics.org/about bPS/strategy-finance), which has been in effect since 2022. To inform the discussion, staff prepared an inventory of all BPS activities and mapped these to the specific strategic goals each was designed to serve. In this summary, the Council found overall satisfactory alignment and identified two areas of potential growth. First, we decided to expand Student Chapters to include post-doctoral trainees. Second, we acknowledged a weakness in engaging K-12 students with biophysics. We will be directing relevant committees to consider activities that support our member participation in local K-12 programs to promote biophysics and inspire a new generation. Branding Initiative. In last issue’s column, I shared with you the numbers that indicate a decline in membership over the past decade. Given the increased competition in the science publishing industry, and cultural changes in the wake of the global pandemic, BPS—and more generally biophysics—may

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Council Update

Officers President Gabriela K. Popescu President-Elect Lynmarie K. Thompson Past-President Taekjip Ha Secretary Teresa Giraldez Treasurer Samantha Harris Council Patricia Bassereau Margaret Cheung Martin Gruebele Taviare Hawkins Anne Kenworthy Syma Khalid Emmanuel Margeat Anita Niedziela-Majka Elizabeth Rhoades Tamar Schlick Valeria Vasquez Jing Xu Biophysical Journal Vasanthi Jayaraman Editor-in-Chief The Biophysicist Padmini Rangamani Editor-in-Chief Biophysical Reports

Jörg Enderlein Editor-in-Chief

remedies were discussed, including more committee engagement in the nominations process and encouraging Subgroups to submit nominations. Finance. A critical responsibility of Council is to ensure that the Society operates lawfully and is financially healthy. Harris Povich , BPS Director of Finance & Operations, worked with Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman, an independent audit firm, on an annual audit of BPS’s finances. The 2023 audit was clean with no material weak nesses found. Both the draft audit and the financial state ments were discussed and approved by the Finance Committee chaired by BPS Treasurer Samantha Harris prior to the Spring Council Meeting. The report was presented to Council for further discussion and given final approval. New appointments. It is customary that at Spring Meeting Council discusses nominations for open seats on committees and committee leadership. As has been the case over several past years, Council stressed the importance of transparency in the nomination process as well as inclusivity and representation across the

broad diversity of expertise, career level, geog raphy, gender, ethnicity, and life experience of our members, and approved committee rosters and new committee chair appointments. Self-evaluation. Reflecting on the effectiveness of the meeting, a commonly held sentiment was that while we all recognize the value of continuing to hold the Spring Meeting in person, a one-day meeting might not justify its carbon footprint in air travel. We will consider options in more depth at Fall Council, which has been held online since 2020. After concluding the Spring Council Meeting, it is my strongly held opinion that BPS is a highly functional organization, which continues to learn from its own practice and from gover nance experts on how to best adapt to a social, economic, and political environment that is rapidly changing. It is a privilege for me to be part of this vibrant community that supports science and scientists, as stated in our strategic plan, “to seek knowledge, improve the human condition, and preserve the planet for future generations.” — Gabriela K. Popescu , President

Society Office Jennifer Pesanelli Executive Officer Newsletter

Executive Editor Jennifer Pesanelli Managing Editor John Long Production Ray Wolfe Meredith Zimmerman Proofreader/Copy Editor 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 © 2024 by the Biophysical Society. Darren Early Laura Phelan

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

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Biophysicist in Profile

Logan Kaler Area of Research Migration of cells in response to their environment

Institution US Naval Research Laboratory

At-a-Glance

Logan Kaler is a postdoctoral fellow through the American Society for Engineering Education, working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. The child of two artists, she has funneled her creativity into the scientific endeavor, and hopes to contribute to biophysics through projects that advance scientific knowledge and have practical applications.

Logan Kaler

Logan Kaler , a postdoctoral fellow working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory through the American Society for Engi neering Education, grew up in Owings Mills, Maryland, with a sister and two artist parents. “Both of my parents are artists. My mother is an art teacher in Baltimore City and my father is a director of visual design at a marketing firm in Annapolis,” she shares. “Interestingly enough, my younger sister also went into science and has her degree in physics.” Kaler became interested in science in elementary school. “Science was always my favorite subject, and the science fairs were always a highlight because I was able to explore a new question,” she recalls. During her undergraduate studies at Bay Path University, an all-women liberal arts university in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, she had the opportunity to ex plore a variety of scientific fields. “As a part of the Women in STEM Honors Program at Bay Path University, I was exposed to multiple fields in the sciences, ranging from paleontology to DNA technology, to the history of science. As I advanced in my studies, I gravitated towards biology and eventually land ed on biophysics, as it had the biology aspect that I always found interesting but also had the tools for quantification. The ability to understand biological events and processes is important, but being able to quantitatively analyze them gives more support to findings,” she explains. “I remember learning different concepts in biology and when I started combining those concepts in my research, biophysics was the way to answer the ‘How?’ question.” “My undergraduate mentor, Dr. Yadilette Rivera Colón , played an integral part in my career as a biophysicist—as I didn’t know what a biophysicist was until she introduced me to the field as a whole. As an undergraduate, I studied the structural and biochemical features of post-translational modifications, specifically acetylation via acetyltransferases. The structural and biochemical features of acetyltransferases were explored using computational analysis, and the resulting observations were used to hypothesize mutations regarding which changes

in specific structural features might contribute to substrate specificity,” Kaler says. Following the completion of her bachelor’s degree, she en rolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, to earn her PhD in biophysics. “In graduate school, I pivoted to studying host-pathogen interactions via microscopy and multiple particle tracking. The goal of my research was to understand how viral particles diffuse through the mucus in the airway to reach underlying cells, thus leading to infection.” Of her current position in Washington, DC, Kaler says, “I am currently studying migration of cells in response to their environment.” When asked about the biggest challenge so far in her career, she shared a valuable perspective. “At the time, each hurdle can feel like it is the biggest challenge—you try to find a way around it, but you end up having to go over it. And each time, when you look back, sometimes years down the road, you realize that what seemed insurmountable was more than doable,” she remarks. “In grad school, I struggled with some of the more rigorous math and physics courses, which were guaranteed to be a part of my qualifier, and I had to study with my classmates who were physicists and mathematicians while attending all of the professor’s office hours to make it through the classes and pass my qualifier. There were more hurdles that I had to overcome, but I faced them the same way: by leaning on my community for support. My communi ty is more than my classmates and professors, they are my mentors and my lab-mates, my friends and my family. When the hurdles seemed too tall to get over, they were the ones cheering from the sidelines with support as I struggled my way over them.” Kaler hopes to stay at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory working on projects that both advance scientific knowledge and have practical applications. “I think a lot of research is

July/August 2024

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Biophysicist in Profile

going into artificial intelligence and machine learning, both of which have a lot of applications in biophysics, including in data processing and computer vision. I will be interested to see what the future holds for biophysics,” she shares. “When I first started attending the Biophysical Society Annual Meetings, I began to understand how different fields of science are linked together and how it is important to under stand concepts more holistically,” Kaler recounts. “Now, the meetings are a chance for me to see what is new in the field but also a valuable opportunity to receive feedback on my work—sometimes from more pointed comments and other times from general discussions. The Biophysical Society has given me a lot of opportunities to interact with other scien tists and explore different avenues of research. The events and panels that I have both attended and participated in gave me insight into the different career paths that I could take. I have developed a large network of scientists, which

has allowed me to continue supporting biophysics education through serving on the Biophysical Society Education Com mittee.” Speaking to those just starting their careers in biophysics, Kaler emphasizes the importance of becoming comfortable with sharing your research. “In science, it is so important to share your research, whether it is through papers, posters, or seminars. With sharing your work come questions and discussions, which can be intimidating, but remember that no one knows your research project better than you. Keeping that in the back of your mind can help you to present and answer questions, and confidently,” she advises. “Additionally, it is important to make your research accessible to more than just your colleagues in the same specialization as you. When you’re preparing a paper or a presentation, it can be extremely helpful to have someone from a different field entirely review your work.”

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Take advantage of more than $500 in savings! Offer ends August 31. https:/ biophysics-jobs.careerwebsite.com/employer/pricing/

July/August 2024

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Senate Calls for Emergency R&D Investment in AI A bipartisan quartet of senators led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) released a blueprint for artificial intelligence (AI) policy that proposes Congress use “emergency” appropriations to ramp up federal non-defense spending on AI research and development (R&D) to at least $32 billion per year. This matches the level proposed in 2021 by the National Security Commis sion on AI, which estimated that federal agencies spent about $1 billion on such R&D in fiscal year 2020 and proposed that Congress double that figure each year over five years. Beyond funding a cross-government AI R&D initiative, the blueprint proposes that some of the money go to broader priorities, such as implementing the CHIPS and Science Act and addressing the large backlog of infrastructure maintenance at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

OSTP Issues New Rules for Gain-of-Function Research

OSTP is also replacing a seven-year-old policy for GOF studies that modify dangerous agents such as H5N1 avian influenza in ways that could make them riskier to people. That policy required such studies of “potential pandemic pathogens,” also known as PPPs, to undergo a high-level federal review, although only three proposals have been subjected to that scrutiny so far. Under the new rules for GOF studies, now called Category 2 research, even certain experiments with less lethal agents such as seasonal flu could fall under the policy. Around the World Report Suggests France Create NIH-like Agency for Research In May, a report commissioned by the French government on how to address the country’s system for managing and fund ing biomedical science was released. At the top of the list of recommendations is a proposal to create a national agency to oversee all biomedical research, similar to the United States' National Institutes of Health (NIH). Over the past two decades, France has fallen behind in inter national rankings for biomedical research. The solution, ac cording to the report, is to transform France’s major biomedi cal research and human health organization, INSERM, into an

In early May, the White House announced new rules for fed eral oversight of gain-of-function (GOF) studies on pathogens that could lead to another pandemic. The overhaul of rules also includes a broader category of federally funded research on dangerous pathogens that is considered “dual use,” be cause the results could be used as bioweapons. The rules released by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are narrower than a proposal floated last year that many scientists feared would complicate studies on low-risk pathogens such as cold viruses and herpesviruses. The new policy, which will take effect in May 2025, replaces decade-old rules governing “dual-use research of concern” (DURC) crafted in the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks. The DURC rules require additional oversight of seven types of ex periments that involve 15 high-risk human and animal viruses and bacteria from a longer U.S. government list of dangerous human, animal, and plant pathogens and toxins known as select agents. Under the new policy, the rules for DURC—now dubbed Category 1 research—will expand to all 68 select agents, as well as about two dozen additional high-risk pathogens, such as West Nile Virus, usually studied in laboratories with the highest biocontainment measures. It also expands the list of regulated experiments from seven to nine.

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New Zealand Budget Looks to Cut Science Research Spending When New Zealand’s Finance Minister, Nicola Willis , announced the first budget from the new government on May 30, the proposal called for the reduction or elimination of a number of science programs. While Parliament is expected to approve the NZ$3.2 billion budget, cuts and all, a coalition of scientists has joined together to persuade lawmakers to increase future research funding. Even before the Finance Minister released the budget blueprint, the New Zealand government had signaled it would be drastically curbing spending, and some research-related agencies were already planning layoffs. New Zealand’s largest competitive research grants program, the Endeavour Fund, is forecast to get a small increase in the next budget, but two other major funds that support health and fundamental research would see flat spending. The new budget has amplified concerns about the long-term conse quences for the nation’s scientific workforce.

NIH-type body. Currently, INSERM conducts research in all fields of biomedical science and human health, most often in partnership with universities. But the report recommends the organization mainly become a national strategic agen cy for defining, deploying, and funding biomedical research programs at the country level, guided by an independent scientific advisory board. A second branch of INSERM would still perform some research, but mainly to directly support its national strategic role, similar to NIH’s intramural research program. There would be a full separation of power between the strategic and research branches. More broadly, the report contains recommendations for mak ing physician-scientist careers more attractive and boosting clinical research by simplifying access to human samples and patient data. It also recommends that France do more to fos ter entrepreneurship and attract private funding for biomed ical research, as well as reform intellectual property law to facilitate partnerships.

Applications Are Open for the Biophysical Society 2025–2026 Congressional Fellowship Interested in using your science skills to inform science policy? Does spending a year working on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, helping develop policy sound exciting? The Biophysical Society’s Congressional Fellowship Program (www.biophysics.org/policy-advocacy/congressional-fellowship) is your opportunity to participate directly in the process of lawmaking that impacts how research is funded and regulated. This year-long opportunity provides fellows a chance to utilize their science knowledge to inform the public policy process. Fellows will gain firsthand knowledge and experience on how Congress works and will participate in the esteemed AAAS Science and Technology Fellows program that provides ongoing training and networking opportunities during the fellowship year and beyond. Visit www.biophysics.org/policy-advocacy/congressional-fellowship for more details about the program or contact Leann Fox at fellows@biophysics.org or (240) 290-5606. The application deadline is December 13, 2024.

Numbers By the

In the past five years, BPS has supported 60 high-school-level science fairs across the United States.

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Publications

Know the Editor María García-Parajo

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Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology Editor, Cell Biophysics Biophysical Journal

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What are you currently working on that excites you? Biomolecular interactions in living cells are highly coordinat ed in space and time, with modularity playing a major role in tuning molecular function and cell response. We are interested in understanding the rules that govern modularity and spatio temporal compartmentalization to regulate cellular function. For this, we develop and apply a battery of single-molecule fluorescence-based techniques that include different forms of super-resolution microscopy combined with single-molecule imaging and tracking in living cells. We focus on two main bio logical processes of fundamental interest: plasma membrane organization and intracellular dynamics and transport. These processes are sensitive to the mechanical environment, and we aim to understand how mechanical stimuli are sensed at the level of individual molecules, how they influence the modularity and spatiotemporal compartmentalization of molecules, and how this affects cellular function. At a cocktail party of non-scientists, how would you explain what you do? Individual molecules in living cells are similar to individual per sons in our society. Each of us has a defined personality. How ever, we don't function in an isolated manner, but instead we interact with others, and these interactions ultimately define particular functions: from being a parent and a partner to hav ing a given job or providing service to our community. Impor tantly, we are not only parents or professionals: we diversify our functions by interacting with others depending on the place where we are (spatial compartments) and for a given time (dynamics). In our research, we engineer highly sophisticated microscopes with extreme sensitivity to spy on the behavior of thousands of individual molecules to reconstruct cell function from their dynamic interactions.

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Biophysical Journal Cardiac length-dependent activation driven by force-depen dent thick-filament dynamics Alexandre Lewalle, Gregory Milburn, Kenneth S. Campbell, and Steven A. Niederer “The mechanistic origins of length-dependent activation (LDA), a fundamental regulatory feature of cardiac muscle contraction, are still debated. Growing experimental evidence suggests that myosin crossbridges transition between a tension-generating 'on' state and an inactive 'off' state in a tension-dependent manner. Using a minimal biophysical model, the authors tested the hypothesis that the resulting feedback effect could potentially constitute a major contri bution to LDA. By assuming a force-dependent feedback, the model quantitatively reproduces the key features of LDA. It also reproduces qualitatively the main observed effects of the off-state-targeting drug mavacamten. This provides a modeling framework for investigating the impact of off-state dynamics on whole-heart physiology and its clinical implica tions.” Version of Record Published May 27, 2024 DOI: https:/doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2024.05.025 F active F passive F F 1 F 2 F d

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Communities Member Corner

Members in the News

Giulia Palermo , University of California, Riverside and Society member since 2014, received the 2024 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.

Giulia Palermo

Grants & Opportunities National Academy of Sciences Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics This award is presented every three years and carries with it a $20,000 prize. It recognizes outstanding contri butions made to the field of biophysics. Who can apply: Self-nominations are not accepted. Nom inators may not nominate individuals from their home institution or anyone with whom they have an emotional relationship (such as a relative, current/former romantic partner, or former student). Deadline: October 7, 2024 Website: www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/alexan der-hollaender-award.html

National Academy of Sciences NAS Award in Molecular Biology This award recognizes a notable discovery by a young scientist. The winner is presented with a medal and a $25,000 prize. Who can apply: Nominees must be no older than 50 years of age and must be a citizen of the United States. Self-nominations are not accepted. Nominators may not nominate individuals from their home institution or any one with whom they have an emotional relationship (such as a relative, current/former romantic partner, or former student). Deadline: October 7, 2024 Website: www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/molecu lar-biology.html

Student Spotlight

Kerri Fruit Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center What do you hope to accomplish in your career?

My career goal as an MD-PhD student is to contribute to science and medicine as a physician-scientist. I plan to focus my research on understanding disease processes to find treatments and therapeutics for my patients. I hope to contribute to the body of scientific discoveries outside the clinic and instill excitement for biophysics in future generations of students after me through teaching and mentoring.

Kerri Fruit

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Annual Meeting

A Note from the Program Chairs At BPS2025, in the City of Angels, our Annual Meeting is going Hollywood! Our symposia and workshops will be your chance to see and hear what’s exciting and up and coming in the biophysics world. Consider this your chance to not only catch trailers of the next research blockbuster but also to see the latest episode in the ever-expanding Biophysical Society universe. From short teaser flash talks to full-length feature platform presentations, the 2025 Annual Meeting will be sure to have something for everyone—from new tools and proteome-scale approaches to the classics of membrane biophysics, receptors and channels, and emerging themes of multi-scale biophysics. We are excited to continue the well-received programming changes launched at BPS2024, including Symp/Workshop Select, Flash Talks, and Platform speakers having the option to also present a poster. Black in Biophysics will remain a featured symposium, and the call for speakers will open July 10.

Thank you to our sponsors: Bruker Carl Zeiss Microscopy LLC Chroma Technology Fidabio Leica Microsystems LUMICKS Mad City Labs Inc Nanion Technologies Sophion Bioscience A/S

Don’t miss the abstract deadline, October 1, 2024. Looking forward to seeing everyone in Los Angeles!

See the additional presentation options BEFORE submitting your abstract. Page 13

Sudha Chakrapani Case Western Reserve University

Christopher Yip University of Toronto

Symposia Massive Quantitative Proteome-Wide Biophysics Sina Ghaemmaghami , University of Rochester, USA, Chair Klará Hlouchová , Charles University, Czech Republic John van Noort, Leiden University, The Netherlands Speaker to be announced Engineering Biological Macromolecules for Cellular Biophysics Yamuna Krishnan , University of Chicago, USA, Chair Galia Debelouchina , University of California, San Diego, USA

Abstract Submission and Registration Now Open Remember, to submit an abstract or register for the Annual Meeting you must have a myBPS Account. biophysics.org/2025meeting

Regulatory Mechanisms in Ion Channel Gating Merritt Maduke, Stanford University, Chair Stephan Pless, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Julio Cordero-Morales, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, USA Irina Vetter, University of Queensland, Australia Supramolecular Assemblies in Membrane Signaling Nieng Yan, Tsinghua University, China, Chair Tao Che, Washington University in St. Louis, USA Francesca Vallese, Columbia University, USA Daniel Minor, University of California, San Francisco, USA

Matthew Paszek , Cornell University, USA Gonzalo Cosa , McGill University, Canada

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Annual Meeting

Intrinsically Disordered Proteins: A Peek Away from the Lamppost Rohit Pappu, Washington University in St. Louis, USA, Chair Julie Forman-Kay, The Hospital for Sick Children, Canada Jeanne Stachowiak, University of Texas at Austin, USA Birthe Kragelund, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Condensates: From Characterization to Function and Application Xuebiao Yao, University of Science and Technology, China, Chair Keren Lasker, Scripps Research Institute, USA Ashutosh Chilkoti, Duke University, USA Tsing-Young Dora Tang, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany Novel Mechanisms in Membrane Transport Aravind Penmatsa, Indian Institute of Science, India, Chair John Rubinstein, University of Toronto, Canada David Drew, Stockholm University, Sweden Inga Hänelt, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany Mechanisms of Cell Wall Biopolymer Assembly Syma Khalid, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, Chair

Membrane Asymmetry - Biogenesis, Mechanics, and Regulation Sarah Veatch, University of Michigan, USA, Chair Milka Doktorova, University of Virginia, USA Mikhail Bogdanov, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston , USA Rumiana Dimova, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany Novel Techniques in Membrane Biology William Prinz, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA, Chair Gia Voeltz, University of Colorado Boulder, USA Edward Lyman, University of Delaware, USA Sarah Rouse, Imperial College London, United Kingdom Mechanobiology: The Role of Forces in Development Julie Theriot, University of Washington, USA, Chair Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez, University of Toronto, Canada Padmini Rangamani, University of California, San Diego, USA Kate Poole, University of New South Wales NSW Sydney, Australia Integrins and Matrix Proteins Klaus Hahn, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, Chair Timothy Springer, Harvard University, USA Valerie Weaver, University of California, San Francisco, USA Jeremy Hollis, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, USA Viral Assembly and Pathways for Host Cell Interaction Roya Zandi, University of California, Riverside, USA, Chair Owen Pornillos, University of Utah, USA Lars-Anders Carlson, Umeå University, Sweden Robert Dick, Cornell University, USA

Innovations in RNA Therapeutics Blanton Tolbert, HHMI, USA, Chair Gene Yeo, University of California, San Diego, USA Hirohide Saito, Kyoto University, Japan Andrea Kasinski, Purdue University, USA Mitochondrial Dynamics and Regulation in Health and Disease Yuriy Kirichok, University of California, San Francisco, USA, Chair Konstanze Winklhofer, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany Danielle Grotjahn, Scripps Research Institute, USA Jason Mears, Case Western Reserve University, USA Optogenetics: From Signaling to Cell Behavior Keiichi Inoue, The University of Tokyo, Japan, Chair Barney Bryson, University College London, United Kingdom Susan Rempe, Sandia National Laboratories, USA Joanna Mattis, University of Michigan, USA AI-ML in Drug Discovery and Development Jens Meiler, Vanderbilt University, USA, Chair Jianing Li, Purdue University, USA Vsevolod Katritch, University of Southern California, USA Debora Marks, Harvard University, USA New Biophysical Approaches Across Length Scales Madhavi Krishnan, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, Chair Eva Nogales, University of California, Berkeley, USA Je-Kyung Ryu, Seoul National University, South Korea Ron Dror, Stanford University, USA Correlated Platforms for Visual Proteomics Misha Kudryashev, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Germany, Chair Ariane Briegel, Leiden University, The Netherlands Qiangjun Zhou, Vanderbilt University, USA Peijun Zhang, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Lynette Cegelski, Stanford University, USA Jochen Zimmer, University of Virginia, USA Speaker to be announced

Label-free Approaches to Characterizing Membranes and Membrane Assemblies Carlos Baiz, University of Texas at Austin, USA, Chair Frederick Heberle, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA

Elizabeth Kelley, NIST, USA Speaker to be announced

Workshops

Multiscale Biophysical Modeling of the Cell Leslie Loew, University of Connecticut, USA, Chair Garegin Papoian, University of Maryland, USA Speakers to be announced Vibrational Spectroscopies and Imaging for Cell and Molecular Biophysics Oxana Klementieva, Lund University, Sweden, Chair Caitlin Davis, Yale University, USA Joachim Heberle, Freie University Berlin, Germany Naixin Qian, Columbia University, USA

Organoid Biophysics Martin Oheim, CNRS Paris, France, Chair Laurence Pelletier, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Canada Jatin Roper, Duke University, USA Eyal Karzbrun, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Enabling Technologies: From Atoms, Optics, and Beyond Vasanthi Jayaraman, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, USA, Chair Lee Makowski, Northeastern University, USA Mark Leake, University of York, United Kingdom Kevin Welsher, Duke University, USA

biophysics.org/ 2025meeting

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Annual Meeting

Abstract Categories The Society organizes platform and poster sessions based on scientific areas. The abstract topic categories are reviewed an nually and modified as needed to reflect new and evolving areas in biophysics. When submitting an abstract, you will be asked to select the category in which your abstract best fits. The abstract categories for the 2025 Annual Meeting are listed below. Proteins 1A Protein Structure and Conformation 1B Protein Structure, Prediction, and Design 1C Protein Stability, Folding, and Chaperones 1D Protein-Small Molecule Interactions 1E Protein Assemblies 1F Protein Dynamics and Allostery 1G Membrane Protein Structures 1H Membrane Protein Dynamics 1I Membrane Protein Folding 1J Enzyme Function, Cofactors, and Post-Translational Modifications Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Aggregates, and Condensates 2A Intrinsically Disordered Proteins 2B Protein Aggregates 2C Condensates: Physical Properties and Modeling 2D Condensates in Physiology and Disease Nucleic Acids 3A DNA Replication, Recombination, and Repair 3B Transcription 3C Ribosomes and Translation 3D DNA Structure and Dynamics 3E RNA Structure and Dynamics 3F Protein-Nucleic Acid Interactions 3G Chromatin and the Nucleoid Lipids and Membranes 4A Membrane Physical Chemistry 4B Membrane Dynamics 4C Membrane Active Peptides 4D Membrane Fusion and Non-Bilayer Structures 4E Membrane Structure 4F Protein-Lipid Interactions: Channels 4G Protein-Lipid Interactions: Structures 4H General Protein-Lipid Interactions

Cell Physiology and Bioenergetics 5A

Membrane Receptors and Signal Transduction

5B 5C 5D 5E 5F 5G 5H

Mechanosensation

Exocytosis and Endocytosis

Calcium Signaling

Intracellular Calcium Channels and Calcium Sparks and Waves

Excitation-Contraction Coupling

Cardiac, Smooth, and Skeletal Muscle Electrophysiology

Muscle Regulation

5I 5J

Intracellular Organelle Dynamics Bioenergetics and Photosynthesis Mitochondria in Cell Life and Death

5K

Channels and Transporters 6A

Voltage-Gated Na Channels Voltage-Gated Ca Channels Voltage-Gated K Channels

6B 6C 6D 6E 6F 6G 6H

TRP Channels

Ligand-Gated Channels

Ion Channel Regulatory Mechanisms Ion Channels, Pharmacology, and Disease

Anion Channels Other Channels

6I

Cytoskeleton, Motility, and Motors 7A

Skeletal Muscle Mechanics, Structure, and Regulation Smooth Muscle and Cardiac Muscle Mechanics and Structure Smooth Muscle and Cardiac Muscle Regulation Smooth Muscle Mechanics, Structure, and Regulation Actin Structure, Dynamics, and Associated Proteins Microtubules, Structure, Dynamics, and Associated Proteins Kinesins, Dyneins, and Other Microtubule-based Motors Cytoskeletal Assemblies and Dynamics Cell Mechanics, Mechanosensing, and Motility Cytoskeletal-based Intracellular Transport Bacterial Mechanics, Cytoskeleton, and Motility Myosins

7B

7C 7D 7E 7F 7G 7H

7I 7J

7K 7L

Systems Biology 8A

Modeling of Biological Systems Imaging in Systems and Synthetic Biology Genetic, Metabolic, and Cellular Networks Novel Techniques for Systems and Synthetic Biology

8B 8C 8D

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Annual Meeting

Techniques To allow attendees to search for abstracts based on specific techniques in addition to areas of research, during abstract submission you will be asked to select the technique used in your research from among the list of broad topics. The technique categories for the 2025 Annual Meeting are listed here.

Biophysics of Neuroscience 9A

Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Computational Neuroscience

9B 9C

Neuroscience: Experimental Approaches and Tools

New Developments in Biophysical Techniques 10A EPR and NMR: Spectroscopy and Imaging 10B Electron Microscopy 10C Diffraction and Scattering Techniques 10D Molecular Dynamics 10E

• Analytical Ultracentrifugation • Artificial Intelligence Methods • Atomic Force Spectroscopy • Bioinformatics • Calorimetry • Cell/Tissue Imaging and Mechanics • Computational Modeling – Cells and Systems

Computational Methods and Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Bioinformatics Optical Microscopy and Superresolution Imaging Optical Spectroscopy: CD, UV-VIS, Vibrational, Fluorescence Force Spectroscopy and Scanning Probe Microscopy Single-Molecule Spectroscopy

10F 10G 10H

• Computational Modeling – Molecular and Macromolecular • Computational/Theoretical Chemistry and Simulations • Electron Microscopy and Tomography • Electrophysiology

10I

Bioengineering and Biomaterials 11A Bioengineering 11B Biosensors 11C Biosurfaces 11D Micro- and Nanotechnology 11E Biomaterials

• Fluorescence and Light Microscopy • Magnetic Resonance (NMR, EPR, MRI) • Mass Spectrometry • Microfluidics and Microfabrication • Nanotechnology

• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance/EPR Spectroscopy • Optical Spectroscopy (CD, UV/Vis, Fluorescence)

• Single Molecule Methods • Superresolution Imaging • Time-Resolved Spectroscopy • Transient State Kinetics

Biophysics Education 12A

Biophysics Education

• Vibrational Spectroscopy (Infrared and Raman) • X-Ray and Neutron Scattering and Diffraction • X-Ray Crystallography • None/Other

Additional Presentation Options Symp Select or Workshop Select Speaker One additional speaker will be added to each symposium as a Symp Select speaker and to each workshop as a Workshop Select speaker. If you are a principal investigator, you will have the option of choosing Symp Select or Workshop Select during abstract submission. Symp Select and Workshop Select speakers will have 15 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for Q&A.

Platform Presenters Can Also Present a Poster If selected for a Platform talk, you will be able to indicate your preference to also present this work in a poster session. Should you choose to present a poster, please be advised that BPS cannot guarantee the order in which the Platform talk and poster presentation will occur. Five-Minute Flash Talks Each Platform will have seven Platform talks with three Flash Talks (five minutes each). These Flash Talks will be scheduled in the last speaking slot, and presenters must also present this work in a poster session. If you are selected for a Flash Talk, please be advised that BPS cannot guarantee the order in which the Flash Talk and poster presentation will occur.

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Communities

Carmen Domene Membership Committee

Carmen Domene

Is this your first volunteer position for BPS? If not, what other positions have you held? In the past, I was a member of the Editorial Board of Biophys ical Journal and the Biophysical Society’s Committee for Pro fessional Opportunities for Women (CPOW) and I translated from English to Spanish some of the material that the Society prepared for the Education Resources available on the web site. Now I am contributing on the Membership Committee. Why do you volunteer? I volunteer because I want to make some positive impact on the biophysics community, even if a small one. Besides, volunteering is a great way to meet new people and build a network! What has been a highlight from your volunteer experience? A highlight has been a sense of belonging to a larger com munity in return for a small fraction of my time, but also the many people I have interacted with, some of whom have become good friends over the years. Do you have advice for others who might be thinking about volunteering? Volunteering should be a rewarding experience for both you and those you are helping, so just have fun and enjoy the process.

When not volunteering for BPS, what do you work on? I like spending time with my nephews, traveling, walking out doors, visiting art exhibitions, reading novels, and cooking for friends. Right now, I am learning Korean and some floristry.

The Biophysical Society is grateful to its Industry Partners.

GOLD

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

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Communities

Call for Black in Biophysics Speakers

We are seeking nominations for speakers to be featured in the Black in Biophysics Symposium at the 2025 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California. This symposium will highlight the work of Black biophysicists and aspires to build on efforts of BPS to create a successful, inclusive environment while acknowledging the continued underrepresentation of Black scientists. Visit www.cell.com/biophysj/ fulltext/S0006-3495(23)00198-4 to read about the genesis of the symposium in the Biophysical Journal editorial "Being Black in biophysics," written by the symposium's inaugural chairs. If you have a colleague who should be considered or would like to nominate yourself to speak in this symposium, visit https:/www.surveymonkey.com/r/BNSSHBM. Deadline for submissions: August 30, 2024 Opens July 10

Welcome New Committee Members! The Biophysical Society is excited to extend a warm welcome to the latest additions to the BPS Committees. These remarkable individuals are graciously volunteering their time and expertise to make a difference in our community. BPS strives for a rich variety of perspectives and knowledge and, thanks to staggered terms, the Committees are in a constant state of evolution. We eagerly anticipate the opportunity to collaborate and achieve great things together! Awards Committee Michaela Jansen Christy Landes Patricia Soto Committee on Inclusion & Diversity (CID) Amy Lee Lonnie Wollmuth Early Careers Committee Srirupa Chakraborty JiaJia Dong Angela Greenman Ewan McRae Fellows Committee Ivet Bahar Boris Martinac Rohit Pappu Membership Committee Daryl Eggers George Khelashvili Public Affairs Committee Gregory Caputo Shuo Han Committee on Sustainability William Hancock Les Loew Emmanuel Margeat Samrat Mukhopadhyay Gabriela Popescu Lynmarie Thompson Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede Dissertation Award Review Committee Rommie Amaro Taekjip Ha Takanari Inoue Kandice Levental Vikas Navratna Tugba N. Ozturk Ashutosh Srivastava Education Committee Ananya Chakravarti Andrew Feig Andrea Ghisleni Elizabeth Schneider Patricia Soto Ragothaman M. Yennamalli Michaela Jansen Randy Wadkins Publications Committee Committee on Professional Opportunities for Women (CPOW) Susan Buchanan

Lauren Conger Elka Georgieva Divya Yadav

Georg Pabst Erdinc Sezgin

Francisco N. Barrera Michael Greenberg

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Communities

Second Molecular Biophysics of Membranes Conference a Success

Tahoe City, California, USA, June 2–6, 2024

Conferences

The BPS Molecular Biophysics of Membranes Conference convened for the second time on June 2–7, 2024, at Granli bakken Tahoe in Tahoe City, CA. The biannual conference was chaired by Linda Columbus , University of Virginia, and Syma Khalid , University of Oxford. The conference focused on pro moting the research of early-career scientists and facilitating the creation of new networks and collaborations within our community. The Lake Tahoe area provided a wonderful oppor tunity for attendees to connect and explore together. Groups went hiking, kayaking, and biking and completed a zipline and ropes course. The scientific sessions aimed to bring multiple approach es, disciplines, and perspectives to understanding different areas of membrane biophysics. The sessions focused on the organization, structure, and properties of membranes and membrane proteins and their role in signaling, biogenesis, and cellular functions in bacteria, viruses, and eukaryotes. The meeting kicked off with a keynote presentation by Barabara Baird of Cornell University entitled “How Does the Plasma Membrane Participate in Stimulated Cell Signaling?” Attend ees came from all over the world, with representatives from Australia, China, Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. There were four days of talks by 23 invited speakers and 24 selected talks, 15 of them from postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. Poster sessions occurred every day and were highlighted with flash talks on Monday and Wednesday. During lunch each day, invited speakers hosted tables to facil itate discussions between trainees and established investiga tors. Biophysical Journal sponsored four awards for outstand ing poster presentations by a graduate student or postdoc. Congratulations to the awardees recognized on page 17!

Attendee group photo. Inset: Organizing Committee Chairs Linda Columbus and Syma Khalid.

Attendees embraced the supportive community of the conference, which was poignantly embodied by Bil Clemons , California Institute of Technology. He opened his talk by high lighting the importance of including those who may not have such easy access to our scientific communities. He reminded us of the dire impacts of slavery in the United States and around the world and how this has resulted in far too few black scientists in biophysics and STEM more generally. He also emphasized that initiatives such as Black in Biophysics decrease the barriers to access to our scientific communities. The 2026 BPS Molecular Biophysics of Membranes Confer ence will be held in Granlibakken Tahoe and will be organized by Khalid once again, along with Francisco Barrera , University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Peter Tieleman , University of Calgary.

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