Biophysical Society Bulletin | July-August 2024

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.

July/August 2024

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