Biophysical Society Bulletin | March 2020

March 2020

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Celebrate BiophysicsWeek 2020! Get ready to celebrate Biophysics Week, March 23–27, 2020. Biophysics Week is a global celebration of the field and an opportunity to engage and inspire people of all ages with the significant contributions biophysics has made to science and society. Throughout Biophysics Week, there will be many member-organized Affiliate Events taking place all over the world! Check them out and plan to participate. In addition, BPS has organized a week of special events dedicated to celebrating biophysics. Monday, March 23 Biophysics Week Kickoff Event at Johns Hopkins University Thursday, March 26 BPS Feature Session: Biophysics 101 -

An Introduction to Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Its Application to Biological Systems Friday, March 27 Final Day! Remember to check out the daily features and resources!

Inside

State Advocacy Day: Georgia

Tuesday, March 24 BPS Grassroots Advocacy Campaign Wednesday, March 25 Webinar with Kristina K. Larsen , Lawyer and Advocate for Those Facing Discrimination and Harassment.

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President’s Message Biophysicist in Profile

Public Affairs

Member Corner & Important Dates

There are also new features and resources released daily: Cell Picture Show, Person Behind the Paper, Lay Person’s Guide to Classical Studies, and more! Visit our Biophysics Week website www.biophysics.org/biophysicsweek to find additional information and resources as well as daily trivia questions, new biophysicist profiles, and K-12 lesson plans. Follow along with the worldwide biophysics community on social media, and let us know how you are celebrating using #BiophysicsWeek!

Student Spotlight

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Publications

Career Development

Communities & Outreach

Thematic Meetings Upcoming Events

www.biophysics.org/BiophysicsWeek Let us know how you are celebrating—#BiophysicsWeek!

Thank you to our 2020 BiophysicsWeek Partners

Biophysical Society of Serbia

SOBLA

These Biophysics Week Partners have committed to supporting and promoting the public awareness of the importance of biophysics in science.

President’s Message

AMessage from the President Greetings fellow biophysicists. I write this missive as I prepare to become the President of our

our academic institutions have largely failed in overcoming disciplinary barriers. Here again, BPS should be well-placed to offer insight and ideas. The Education Committee is dedicat- ed to addressing these issues and providing ideas for moving forward. Likewise, we have a new Society journal, The Biophysicist . According to its editorial policy statement, The Biophysicist aims to highlight and nurture education, its scholarship, and development. The journal serves a worldwide, broad audience to make fundamental concepts and techniques in biophysics (and related disciplines), as well as evidence-based pedagogical practice accessible to individuals at all levels: K-12 and public outreach, undergraduate, graduate and post-grad- uate students/trainees, active researchers, and scholars of biophysics teaching and learning. This goal will be achieved by both academic articles and informal reports that reflect the in- terdisciplinary nature of biophysics education and the activities of biophysicists in a variety of scientific fields. A third challenge of our times is the evolving, as yet unclear, nature of scientific publishing. There is no quick and easy answer to the question of how to position Biophysical Journal to best weather this transition. Better minds than mine have spent a great deal of time, effort, and thought doing just that. Biophysical Journal and all the other Society publications are in the competent hands of the Publications Committee and staff. The single most effective thing Society members can do to ensure the success of our flagship journal, as well as our other Society publications, is to submit their best work and serve as a reviewer when asked. The Society depends heavily on the success of Biophysical Journal for its financial well-being and for fulfilling the Society’s mission to lead the development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. Moreover, we should “own” great biophysics, and take pride in publishing our work in a journal that, in turn, supports our field. One problem with our Society membership is the lack of di- versity in terms of underrepresented minorities. I have seen in my more than 30 years as a Society member, the proportion of female members increase. Moreover, their status within the Society (awards, Society lecturers, Fellows) has increased dramatically since the early 1980s when I first attended a BPS meeting as a graduate student. While progress remains to be made in gender equality, I feel that we have come a long way since the Society was founded over 60 years ago. The Committee for Professional Opportunities for Women has done and continues to do a great job. Sadly this progress in inclusiveness has not occurred to the same extent for under- represented minorities, despite the great work of the Committee for Inclusion and Diversity . They have done a fantastic job in outreach to underrepresented students, bring-

great Society for the next year. It is rather an awesome responsibility. I feel both honored, and a bit ner- vous. Luckily, I have support of the Society staff and the cumulative knowledge and ideas of the Society Council, which includes committed Society members, the Past President, and the President Elect. So, rest assured, I will not do this alone. Taking on the stewardship of a scientific Society like BPS always presents challenges, but I feel this is particularly true at this point in time. In the field of biophysics, exciting new approaches are being developed nearly daily to quantitatively interrogate molecules, living cells, and organisms in order to discover the mechanisms underpinning biological function and disfunction. This is true of both experimental and compu- tational approaches, which are becoming increasingly con- nected. One only has to spend an hour or two at the poster session of the BPS Annual Meeting to get a strong sense of this rapidly evolving science. Indeed, I hope you attend the Annual Meeting and visit the poster sessions. In my opinion, they are the best part of the meeting. This is where the new- est innovations and discoveries are presented, usually for the first time. Moreover, the results are often presented by the trainees, postdocs, and students who actually did the work. Stopping by their posters allows for in-depth discussions of exactly what was done and exactly how. These are indeed very exciting times for biophysics. But these are also challenging times. Biological sciences are becoming more quantitative. What was long considered to be biophysics is often called integrative biology or quantita- tive biology instead of biophysics. How do we make sure to capture this exciting science within the BPS? Arguably, our Society is the best place to shepherd, develop, and promote this type of research, given our longstanding emphasis on and deep expertise in quantitation, theory, and modeling, and the development of new experimental approaches. This is one of the demanding tasks facing our Society Membership Committee . A second challenge is how to educate trainees in the multi-disciplinary science and techniques that are required for today’s biophysical investigations. Most of us have boot- strapped at least some of the know-how and understanding we use daily in our research. This is probably not the best way to go about training a new generation of interdisciplinary sci- entists. New approaches are desperately needed. In contrast, Catherine A. Royer

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President’s Message

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

ing many into the fold, where hopefully we will all work to make everyone feel comfortable and respected. I think the problem here lies outside the Society, in the pipelines, in the lack of decent schools for underrepresented minorities and for that matter, underprivileged students in general. As the saying goes, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” One area in which BPS plays an important role is in advocacy for science education, particularly for minority and underprivileged communi- ties. Another great way to get the public, both young and old, excited about biophysics and science in general, is to organize a public out- reach event during Biophysics Week, coming up this year March 23–27, 2020. Why not target such events towards underrepresented students in our communities? Finally, in the broader societal landscape of our “interesting” times, science itself is under attack. Policy decisions at all levels of government are less and less often based on established scientific data. Advocating for the central role of science, of understanding our world and our universe, is I believe, the single most important area in which BPS can engage at this juncture, along with our sister

scientific societies from other fields. A strong appreciation for the role of science in society not only affects funding for science, it also impacts our lives and those of our friends and families more directly in the water we drink, the food we eat, the way we get to work, our health and well-being. The BPS Public Affairs Committee has long been deeply involved in advocating for science literacy, education, appreciation, and funding. If you feel as strongly as I do about this, I urge you to get involved by responding to the Society’s public affairs initiatives. For my part over the next year, beginning on February 18, 2020, I will do my best to support and highlight the great work done by our Society members, promote our great cumulative science, make the Society as inclusive as possible, and advocate for biophysics and science in general to the public and to our government representatives at all levels. I would love to hear your ideas concerning the challenges mentioned here. And I look forward to working with you all. — Catherine A. Royer , President

Erin C. Dueber Marta Filizola Gilad Haran

Francesca Marassi Joseph A. Mindell Carolyn A. Moores

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

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

Use Your Expertise toMake a Difference!

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.

Be an inspiration to your community and help change the lives of those interested in or studying science. Sign up to be a mentor, K-12 classroom visitor, speaker, science fair judge, or student chapter sponsor. The FaB (Find a Biophysicist) Network is free and accessible by mem- bers and nonmembers, but only BPS members may join the network.

To join FaB, login to your myBPS account and get involved. Help build this network by signing up today. For more information, visit biophysics.org/get-involved.

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Biophysicist in Profile

Jesus Perez-Gil Areas of Research Pulmonary surfactant system

Institution Complutense University of Madrid

At-a-Glance

Jesus Perez-Gil , Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Dean of Biology at Com- plutense University of Madrid, considers himself lucky, having spent his whole scientific life focused on one primary scientific problem, the pulmonary surfactant system. In this way and many others, he is following in the footsteps of prominent biophysicists he admires, who “have dedicated their lives to working hard studying interesting biological problems while also enjoying life, maintaining a humble spirit, and helping those around them as much as possible.”

Jesus Perez-Gil

Jesus Perez-Gil realized the beauty of mathematics, physics, and biology in his late high school years, thanks to some generous and engaging teachers. “I will be always indebted to Jose Gangoso , my professor of mathematics and physics, who I will never forget because he opened my eyes and brain to the wonder of scientific thinking,” he remembers. At the time, he was not considering a career in science, but was excited by how it explained the world around him. “I had always told my parents I wanted to become an architect!” he says. “I can only imagine their faces and feelings when I told them— during my last year of high school prior to entering university — that I changed my mind and wanted to study biology, which at that time and place — end of the 1970s, Spain —was very far from the recognized frontier that it is today.” Following high school, Perez-Gil entered Complutense Univer- sity of Madrid, where he did study biology. He seriously con- sidered specializing in botany, but became captivated by “the deep knowledge of the intrinsic structure and mechanisms of living matter that can be provided by study at the molecular level,” he says, and decided to pursue a PhD in biochemistry instead. He worked in the lab of Roberto Arche , an enzymolo- gist who introduced him to the beauty of structure-function relationships in proteins and imparted to him a deep under- standing of the chemical mechanisms of enzyme reactions. “Working in the biochemistry department, while studying the catalytic mechanism of enzymes ensuring the supply of sat- urated phospholipids to pulmonary surfactant, I realized that physics and physical chemistry are required to understand the nature of certain physiological problems, and I decided to go learn more physics and become a biophysicist,” he explains. “Biology to biochemistry to biophysics was my pathway to scientific happiness.” He started looking for postdoctoral positions in biophysics and physical chemistry of lipid membranes, which he felt would help him delve deeper into the study of interesting and relevant biological and biomedical problems than appoint- ments in biology or biochemistry could. He came across his

eventual postdoctoral position entirely by chance, in the form of an advertisement included with copies of articles mailed to his lab — “the only way we had at that time to get updated literature in a modest country like Spain, where we had no good scientific libraries with journal subscriptions,” he shares. The advertisement was for positions in the lab of Kevin Keough at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada.

“Somebody helped me to write a letter to Professor Keough and after a whole bunch of applications for fellowships, I started a postdoc stay at Memorial. It was not an easy transi- tion, as I was already married at that time (to a scientist who also needed to find her own postdoctoral way) and had two very young kids,” he says. “Imagine the whole family, includ- ing a two-year-old girl and a five-month-old baby, landing in Newfoundland in January. I will always be indebted to my wife and family for their sacrifice in following me to the place where I could develop the most important step of my career.” There, Perez-Gil studied the intrinsic problem of lung sur- factant and the biophysics of breathing, and benefitted from the experience of his adviser. “I consider Kevin to be my true mentor not only in the world of membranes and surfactant biophysics,” he says, “but in the art of moving and collaborat- ing in science.” Perez-Gil living a true Canadian experience during his postdoc, a real challenge for a Spanish biophysicist.

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Biophysicist in Profile

pulmonary surfactant, in various different models we have developed in the laboratory; 30 percent of our time is used on collaborative work with groups interested in clinical research, or in animal models of respiratory pathologies; and finally, 20 percent of our time is devoted to projects related with respi- ratory drug delivery, with special interest in the application of nanotechnology to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools,” he explains. In addition to the challenges associated with administrative responsibilities, Perez-Gil has faced the difficulties that natu- rally come along with the advancement of scientific research. “A main challenge for an old biologist like me was the intro- duction of molecular biology tools into my lab and research. It was clear that we needed to be able to clone and overexpress proteins and their variants to have a full understanding of their structure-function relationships, something that I had not had the opportunity to learn during my graduate and postdoc education,” he says. “In our case, I was extremely lucky that we could incorporate an extraordinary postdoc in our laboratory, Jose Maria Oviedo , who, with an exquisite gen- erosity, introduced all the molecular biology tools in the lab, including setting the methods and infrastructure, training our students and researchers, and ultimately educating our minds to have molecular biology as one more approach to combine with biophysics. When Jose Maria finished with us, he entered the seminary to become a Catholic priest! I then understood why a postdoc like him did not mind investing so much time with so little personal reward (considering the logical aca- demic urgencies one could expect in a postdoc in the middle of his/her career). We will be always indebted to Jose Maria’s generosity.” While the intimate moments of discovery a researcher expe- riences are personally satisfying for Perez-Gil, he says, “the satisfaction of opening the eyes and minds of the youngest scientists to the beauty of research is even better.” In the short term, Perez-Gil hopes to connect the biophysical work from his lab with true novel diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities in respiratory medicine. But taking a longer view, he says, “To be honest, perhaps the best contribution to biophysics I can aspire to is the initiation into science and bio- physics of young people with the potential to become some of the greatest biophysicists of the future.” As a model for this vision, he holds up Portuguese biophys- icist Manuel Prieto . “The huge contribution of Manuel to biophysics is difficult to summarize but he still enjoys more than ever travelling with his students to attend conferences while also enjoying together the culture and nature of visiting places. Going with Manuel anywhere guarantees that you will believe again in humankind.”

After a couple of years at Memorial, he took an opportunity to learn more about membrane biophysics by working at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany. He worked in the lab of Derek Marsh , an expert in the application of electron spin resonance tools to the study of membranes and membrane proteins. “When I attended my first BPS meetings, I decided that biophysics was certainly the field I wanted to belong to,” he shares. “Every year I was coming back home [with] plenty of new ideas and potential experiments, contacts of people who I could collaborate with, and a strong motivation to produce nice results that I could bring the following year. Compared to the environment of other meetings, especially in Europe, I found the BPS meetings much more committed with giving opportunities to young people to attend and exchange ideas and projects. It is also particularly unique in promoting the encounter of young and experienced scientists, which in the end inspires and consolidates vocations.” A very young family of scientists, living the big adventure of a postdoctoral stage in a far away and cold (but charming) place.

A biophysicist as Dean of the Biology Faculty of Complutense University, the largest public university in Spain.

Perez-Gil returned to Madrid and Complutense University, where he is now full professor in the biochemistry and molec- ular biology department, as well as dean of the biology facul- ty. In spite of the administrative demands on his time, he tries to keep his lab running smoothly and specializing in many as- pects of pulmonary surfactant biology and lung homeostasis. “Thus, we run about 50 percent of our research still exploring the fundamental molecular and biophysical mechanisms of

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Public Affairs

Florida Lawmakers Tackle Foreign Influence In January, legislators in the state of Florida began an investigation into foreign meddling in taxpayer-funded research within the state’s research institutions. In December 2019, a new committee was created to tackle the issue, citing recent findings of conflicts of interests at the Moffit Cancer Center and regulatory crackdowns on the national level. This move comes in parallel to similar investigations happening within the US Congress and national science funding agencies. Concerns have been raised about duplicative regulations between national and state governing bodies and increased regulatory burden, but how the state proposes to provide parity for federal and state level regulations and probes is not yet clear.

Legislation Introduced to Addresses Threats fromChina and Climate Change House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas has introduced the Securing American Leadership in Science and Technology Act (HR 5685). The bill aims to create a long-term strategy for investment in basic re- search and infrastructure to protect US economic and national security. The bill addresses the threats to science and technology and the environment by doubling basic research over 10 years and prioritizing world-class research infrastructure, a skilled STEM workforce, and a focus on critical technologies. HR 5685 proposes: • Create a national science and technology strategy by directing a more strategic whole-of-government planning process to establish national priorities with better coor- dination between agencies and a large focus on securing research from China. • Prioritize investment in federal basic research by autho- rizing a doubling of basic research funding over the next 10 years at the Department of Energy, the National Sci- ence Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. • Invest in American research facilities by authorizing the infrastructure needed to maintain world-class research facilities. • Developing a STEM workforce through an increase in key programs to grow the American pipeline of STEM-capa- ble workers, including cybersecurity and other areas of national need.

• Reforming regulations by improving the effectiveness of federal research and development investments through technology transfer reform and promoting better col- laboration between the federal government and private industry. BPS Joins in Society Civic Science Initiative With Biophysics Week taking place later this month, March is well suited to announce a new initiative BPS is actively taking part in with the larger scientific community — the Society Civic Science Initiative. This initiative is a growing collaboration of more than 55 scientific organizations working in conjunc- tion with each other to cultivate a culture of civic science. The initiative, led by the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and in partnership with American Association for the Advance- ment of Science (AAAS), American Geophysical Union (AGU), and Research!America, is being supported by a Civic Science Fellow funded by the Kavli Foundation. As scientists, you know that many of the most complex and important problems we face — from climate change to anti- biotic resistance to gene editing — require scientists to work with diverse stakeholders to find, discuss, and implement scientific insights and solutions. When these science-society relationships are strong, we see increased public interest in and support for science, the uptake of scientifically sound practices and policies, and the promise of a diverse and com- petent scientific workforce for years to come. Fortunately, many scientists already recognize the importance of engaging with diverse audiences, as evidenced by the commitment to science communication, advocacy, outreach, and public en- gagement by many scientists. These activities contribute to a culture of civic science, in which scientists are active

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Public Affairs

citizens and create opportunities for all members of the public to engage with science. The Initiative has developed a collective vision and set of goals for 2020 and beyond, including: • Creating collaborative opportunities for scientific Societ- ies to engage in effective civic science, • Expanding incentives to increase scientists’ prioritization and engagement in civic science, • Encouraging more university and institution support for scientists engaging in civic science, and • Supporting increased frequency of contact and greater participation from the scientific community with policy makers and members of the public. We believe this new collaboration will create valuable oppor- tunities for scientists and the scientific community as a whole to advance a culture of civic science, in which societal needs and diverse perspectives shape science, and scientific discov- eries inform public understanding, decisions and policies. Around theWorld No Cap for Researchers Under UK Fast-Track Global Talent Visa Program British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new visa system, designed to recruit leading scientists and mathema- ticians to the United Kingdom, just days before the country left the European Union. As of February 20, the UK Research and Innovation Agency took over management of the Global Talent visa from immigration officials at the Home Office. The goal is to “provide an accelerated path” to entry where researchers’ credentials are assessed by the scientific community. The government statement also announced £300 million of funding for “experimental and imaginative mathematical sciences research,” including double the current funding for math PhDs and additional support for math fellowships and research projects. While the British Labour Party welcomed the additional support and recognition for science, members have expressed concern that the new visa regulations “suggest a lack of

understanding of innovation, which depends on scientists, researchers, engineers, and technicians at all levels and not just a few ‘top talents.’” BREXIT: Repair the Damage and Invest for the Future Anthony Watts , University of Oxford, Fellow Biophysical Soci- ety (member since 1976) and President (2017–2019) of the European Biophysical Association of Societies As a result of Brexit, the United Kingdom (UK) is now “single” again, and a free agent to negotiate trade with the rest of the world, independently of the European Union (EU). The process to leave took three-and-a-half years since the closely won (52 to 48 percent) 2016 people’s referendum. Although sign- ing and then implementation of Article 50 (the legal leaving document) took place on January 31, 2020, there are still 11 months of “divorce” proceedings to be negotiated, with much indecision and uncertainty in all spheres of life, not the least of which is science. Whether or not UK scientists will be permitted to associate with EU science activities post-Brexit — the current program is Horizon 2020 programme (€77 billion over seven years [1]) — Brexit should be used as a stimulus for an exciting new vi- sion for the United Kingdom, according to a new independent report (2). The challenge now for the UK scientific community is to ensure that the £1.5 billion previously received from EU science programs, is reinstated through novel and imaginative ways to repair the significant damage already caused by gov- ernmental indecision of the last three-and-a-half years. But what damage has been reeked so far? The Royal Society of London has already documented that the United Kingdom traditionally stands head and shoulders above other countries in attracting funding from the European Union for the highly successful, multilateral and cross-border research collabora- tions (3). But as a result of Brexit uncertainty, the United King- dom’s annual share of EU research funding has fallen by half a billion Euros to 72 percent of pre-2015 levels: The United Kingdom secured 16 percent (€1.49 billion) and 11 percent (€1.06 billion) of the total Horizon 2020 grants signed in 2015 and 2018 respectively. There has also been a drop by almost 40 percent of UK applications in the same period to the cur- rent Horizon 2020 programme. It is well documented that UK principal investigators (PIs) are being passed over,

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Numbers By the

In 2019, 448 messages were sent to Senators and Representatives as a result of the BPS Call to Action in support of enacting a full federal budget with specific support for grant-making agencies.

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Public Affairs

or even replaced, as programme coordinators, or are being excluded because they are seen as a risk due to the funding uncertainty and thus, a commitment to the work. Any grants funded under Horizon2020 will be honoured by the European Union, but this programme finishes in January 2021 and then a new 7-year programme begins, with no funding to (or from) the United Kingdom, and no information or guidance is avail- able from the UK government about participation – so far UK scientists are excluded, and so the uncertainty continues. Recruitment is also a major issue at every level, with the United Kingdom becoming a less attractive place to do sci- ence. For example, the number of researchers coming to the United Kingdom as part of the EU’s Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowships (for young researchers who can go anywhere in Europe with the Fellowship) has fallen by a third — 515 and 336 individuals took up Fellowships in UK institutions in 2015 and 2018 respectively (3). Venki Ramakrishnan , President of the Royal Society said “We have seen a dramatic drop in the number of leading researchers who want to come to the UK. People do not want to gamble with their careers, when they have no sense of whether the UK will be willing and able to maintain its global scientific leadership. The potential paraly- sis of a no-deal Brexit and the current state of chaos are hurt- ing UK science and that is hurting the national interest” (3). Applications from EU nationals for tenured UK positions are also significantly down, and EU nationals in tenured posts are seeking to return to mainland Europe where they can freely apply for EU funds, in particular, the prestigious European Research Council personal grants (~€2M over five years). On the international stage, British science holds a special place of acknowledged excellence, by whatever measure is used (4) – that is why some European scientists like to collaborate with their UK counterparts. This excellence is hard to understand purely on funding levels— the proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on science is 1.66 percent, 2.14 percent, 2.43 percent, and 2.78 percent in the UK, China, EU countries (EU28 average), and United States, respectively (5). What is worrying is that the UK figure will drop to 1.3 percent of GDP (lower than in any other developed country), following the loss of EU funding post-Brexit (~£1.5 billion in 2015). The UK government has made a pledge to raise science funding (totalling ~ £12.2 billion in 2017) to 2.4 percent of GDP by 2027, not with any new government funds, but by “… stimulating collaboration between universities, businesses and other organisations” (6). A similar promise was first made by Margaret Thatcher (a chemist by training who published in lipid bilayer research) in the 1980s, but nev- er realized by any successive government. So, even though

the United Kingdom is well-acknowledged to be preeminent in some highly focused areas, post-Brexit some of these areas too are in danger of being undermined through further reductions in funding. So, what happens now? British scientists will continue to collaborate and find ways to get the science done with EU sci- entists, post-Brexit. They will find imaginative ways of over- coming the hurdles of politics. But the government is ”saving” its contribution to the EU science budget from January 2020, post-Brexit. Even though UK scientists were highly successful and rewarded in the past by a better than “juste retour” from EU programmes, it is now up to the major Societies and their officers to argue for a reinstatement of the £1.5 billion to pre- vent irreparable damage to the science base, and to start new international programmes to include the European Union. New models are required, because previous cross-national (often bilateral) programmes have been highly targeted and top-down to specific technological (deemed politically to be economically productive) areas, often denying bottom-up, cu- riosity driven research that provides the fundamental base on which applied research in founded — there are many exam- ples from biophysics. It will also likely be some years before new mechanisms for uninhibited exchange of researchers and promoting multilateral collaborations — specifically to incorporate with those ongoing within the European Union — will be in place. Novel and fast ways of overcoming this time lag are needed, aiming for a similar model to that developed between the European Union and Switzerland, for example. Let us hope that the current Minister charged with defending and supporting UK science during the next stage of negotia- tions in the transition period, will be proud of their achieve- ments on January 1, 2021, when we are fully independent. References 1. “Horizion 2020 in full swing, Three years on” https:/ec.europa.eu/programmes/hori- zon2020/sites/horizon2020/files/h2020_threeyearson_a4_horizontal_2018_web.pdf 2. “Future frameworks for international collaboration on research and innovation: inde- pendent advice” https:/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/844488/Changes_and_Choices.pdf

3. The Royal Society: “Brexit is already having a negative impact on UK Science” https:/royalsociety.org/-/media/news/2019/brexit-uk-science-impact.pd- f?la=en-GB&hash=BE140E62C37560A6A7523B7134949F11

4. OECD Data, “Gross domestic spending on R&D” https:/data.oecd.org/rd/gross-do- mestic-spending-on-r-d.htm

5.UKRI ”Minister announces new direction for knowledge exchange funding” https:/ re.ukri.org/news-opinions-events/news/minister-announces-new-direction-for-knowl- edge-exchange-funding/

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Publications Member C rner

Important Dates April 17, 2020 Spatial Organization of Biological Functions, Bangalore, India

May 1, 2020 Physical and Quantitative Approaches to Overcome Antibiotic Resistance, Stockholm, Sweden • Abstract Submission Deadline May 20, 2020 Physical and Quantitative Approaches to Overcome Antibiotic Resistance, Stockholm, Sweden • Early Registration Deadline

Student Spotlight Kristian Blom • Early Registration Deadline • Abstract Submission Deadline April 25-26, 2020 USA Science and Engineering Festival May 1, 2020 • Deadline for BPS Award Nominations

Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry Department of Mathematical Biophysics What do you wish you knew before you began your studies in biophysics?

For the last year and a half, I have been a PhD student in the mathematical biophysics group of Aljaz Godec . During this time, I learned a great deal about the fundamental tools of non-equilibrium statistical physics. The applicabili- ty of non-equilibrium statistical physics spans many disciplines within biophysics. Just as, or even more important than the mathematical tools themselves are the underlying assumptions of a theory. My PhD project requires the use of deeper and more rigorous mathematics. Therefore, I wish the tools and mathematical underpinnings (including fundamental assumptions and corresponding regimes of validity) of non-equilibrium statistical physics were explained in more detail.

Kristian Blom

Members in the News

Lily Jan , University of California, San Francisco, and Society member since 1997, was award- ed the Per-UNC Neuroscience Prize with Yuh Nung Jan . The award is a cash prize from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine for a seminal discovery in neuro- science.

Hashim Al-Hashimi , Duke University, and Society member since 2008, received the NAS Award in Molecular Biology. The award is made by the National Academy of Science for recent notable discovery in molecular biology by a young scientist who is a citizen

of the United States. Hashim Al-Hashimi

Lily Jan and Yuh Nung Jan

Grants & Opportunities

Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships This funding scheme offers recently qualified postdoc- toral researchers the opportunity to start independent research careers, working in some of the best research environments in the world. Deadline: April 15, 2020 Website: https:/wellcome.ac.uk/funding/schemes/ sir-henry-wellcome-postdoctoral-fellowships

Biophysical Society Awards Through its award program, the Biophysical Society honors its members and recognizes excellence in biophysics. Deadline: May 1, 2020 Website: https:/www.biophysics.org/awards-funding/ society-awards

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Publications

The First Issue of The Biophysicist is Published! BPS is excited to launch its new, fully

Know the Editor Meyer Jackson

University of Wisconsin-Madison Editor, Reviews

open access journal, The Biophysi- cist . Aimed at undergraduate, grad- uate, and post-graduate students and trainees, active researchers, and scholars of biophysics teaching and learning, this journal highlights education in biophysics and related disciplines. Please visit www.thebio- physicist.org to read this exciting new journal.

Meyer Jackson

What are you currently working on that excites you? We just worked out a new way to investigate fusion pore dynamics in exocytosis, and hope to use it to figure out how various proteins control the escape of signaling molecules from vesicles as they fuse. We are imaging the electrical ac- tivity in many neurons simultaneously in order to understand how neural circuits process and store information. We are also measuring the diffusion constant of calcium within live nerve terminals versus free calcium concentration to learn how the saturation of calcium-binding proteins alters the dynamics of calcium signals that trigger exocytosis. What has been your most exciting discovery as a biophysicist? I have a bit of nostalgia for a time in the early 1980s when I first set up my own lab. I decided to go after what was then a far-fetched and esoteric question of whether the acetyl- choline receptor opens spontaneously, without any ligand. I wanted to test the then controversial “allosteric hypoth- esis” formulated by Monod , Wyman , and Changeux in 1965. The patch clamp was a new technique then, and I thought it might pick up these events even if they were rare. I would know them if I saw them because they would have the same amplitude as the channel openings produced by acetylcholine. I added some electronics to the then primitive commercial patch clamp amplifier, designed and soldered together a triggering circuit, and wrote an assembly-level program to trigger data acquisition into a PDP 11/23 computer. I saw the spontaneous openings flickering across the computer screen and my program produced a beep each time. Many controls and checks validated the finding. It was an exciting discovery that was conceptually driven by the thermodynamics I had studied as a student. How do you stay on top of all the latest developments in your field? It is hopeless. Every paper I read cites at least ten papers I want to read.

The Biophysicist Volume1, Issue1,2020 www.thebiophysicist.org

Membrane Protein Signaling – Special Issue

A new Special Issue of Biophysical Journal was released on February 25. This collection of 21 articles reports on biophysics of membrane protein signaling, with emphasis on the structure, dynamics and function of channels, transporters, and receptors. The articles cover a range of topics including physiological signaling, mod- el systems, and sensory biology. The issue was co-edited by two experts from the Channels and Transporters

Section of the Editorial Board Vasanthi Jayaraman (University of Texas Health Science Center) and Andrew Plested (Hum- boldt Universität zu Berlin). Read these articles online at https:/www.cell.com/biophysj/home. The Biophysical Journal welcomes new papers in this area.

Explore Biophysical Journal Collections cell.com/biophysj/libraries/collections

FollowBPS Journals on Twitter @BiophysJ and@BiophysicistJ

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Career Development

What (Not) to Share Online Dear Molly Cule ,

“potentially” public posting). It goes without saying that you do not want offensive content to show up under your name. This also extends to inconsiderate or “edgy” jokes that you would not want your (future) boss to see associated with your name. It is also important to keep in mind other consequences of online postings being public or semi-public. Even on public social forums it can feel like you’re just chatting with your cir- cle of friends, but anyone can stumble across your comments, now or even years later! You also should consider potential issues associated with sharing new scientific results and experiments that are not yet published or made public. It is good to make sure that exciting new findings or experimental ideas are properly validated and tested; therefore, it is wise to have a chat with your advisor and lab mates before sharing cutting-edge results. Some approach the above challenges by separating their personal and work personas online. The personal account may then be kept largely closed off from the public internet, and the other kept fully open and public. There is one caveat — if you are sharing your science in the hope of engaging as many people as possible, you quickly find that “dry” science postings get a lot less attention than witty or otherwise more personal images and messages. If you look at the scientists that are popular and well-known in social media (some anon- ymous, but many openly identified), you see that they often imbue their online presence with a recognizable and clear personal outlook and style. So it may be best to find a balance between a personal touch and an appropriately professional approach. In the end, no one solution works for everyone. This is ulti- mately a personal choice, with each approach offering both risks and opportunities. — Molly Cule

I am an honors student in a biophysics lab. I am very excited about science and research and like to share my excite- ment with other students and indeed the whole world! I have started doing that by talking about my experiences and research on social media (Face- book, Instagram, Twitter). Recently a professor made a point of warning me about risks associated with over-shar-

ing on social media. I was disappointed to get this discourag- ing message, as I really enjoy sharing my life in and outside of science. It is nice to see how it can get my family and friends interested in what I do (and biophysics and science in general). What is your perspective on this? Should I really stop sharing things online? Sincerely, An excited but torn biophysicist in training . Dear Excited , I think it is great to hear of your enthusiasm for biophysics research and for sharing it. In my view, it is important for scientists of all sorts to communicate to and with the public about what science (and biophysics) is all about. Also, the Bio- physical Society itself takes things like social media outreach and communication with the broader public very seriously. That already gives an indication that not everyone is inclined to discourage public sharing and communication. The reasons for moderation are several. One of the more concrete potential issues relates to the fact that employers often examine your online profile. Whether this involves a basic web search or a more in-depth analysis, you don’t want an ill-advised posting to have negative consequences for their opinion of you as a potential new employee or a graduate school applicant. You may argue that personal things should not affect your professional status, but in reality employers, colleagues, and PhD advisors may worry about such things reflecting on your judgment and professionalism. Moreover, they may feel that your (online) behavior would reflect badly on them, indirectly. So, it is not a bad idea to keep this in mind in context of your online activities. On the other hand, a demonstrable enthusiasm for your science and your work can be seen as a great strength that sets a certain applicant or candidate apart from the rest. In this context, the right kind of online profile would not hurt and may even be an asset. So how to balance this? The most general answer is sim- ply that one should be considerate in any public posting (or

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Communities and Outreach

BPSMicroscopy Outreach Efforts in Bangalore, India The Education Committee, in cooperation with the Biophys- ical Society staff have been distributing light microscopes in India. This outreach effort is made possible by a 2016 gift of 500 small wooden microscopes from Echo Laboratories and Chroma Technology Corp. I (USP, Duke Engineering, Class of 2021) took three wooden microscope kits on a visit to my home city of Bangalore in Summer 2018. There I taught three sessions on light microscopy in under-resourced government schools using the lesson plan on light microscopy which, inspired by the wooden microscopes, was written for the Society (by SAE, Duke University). The lesson plan is posted on the BPS Lesson Plans and Experiments web page (https:/ www.biophysics.org/biophysics-basics#/) for downloading and use by the general public.

Young student in Bangalore viewing a leaf on a wooden microscope helped by Umika Paul (right).

microscopes, and familiarized them with the lesson plan so that they could lead the sessions after I returned to Duke. The volunteers were able to teach nine additional sessions in Bangalore during the past year and a half, and have recently expanded efforts to New Delhi using microscope kits provided by BPS. Recent sessions have been targeted primarily toward girls and younger students — the teachers have commented that the sessions have been very eye-opening for the young students. I have kept in contact with the Whitefield Rising volunteers who have been leading the light microscope outreach ses- sions during my visits home to Bangalore for summer and winter breaks. I have recently taught members of another volunteer group, Acharyas, how to assemble and use the wooden microscopes. This has led to the expansion of the light microscopy outreach sessions to other districts in Ban- galore and the aforementioned sessions in New Delhi. These efforts, performed under guidance by SAE as a member of the BPS Education Committee, along with with BPS staff, are providing new educational experiences to students in under-resourced schools on an international level. The overall goal of the BPS is to improve global science education and encourage more young people to enter STEM fields. — Umika S. Paul , Duke University, Pratt School of Engineering — Sharyn A. Endow , Duke University, BPS Education Committee

Umika Paul (right) with teachers in Bangalore, India, preparing specimens for viewing on a wooden microscope (center).

The sessions that I taught were well received and enjoyed by the students, who had not been exposed to an activity like this previously. They were taught how to assemble the microscopes, and how to use them to view specimens such as flowers and leaves. After the sessions, the microscopes were given to the teachers for further use in their classes. The teachers felt that this was a valuable new experience for the students — especially for the young girls — as it introduced the students to scientific concepts that they would otherwise not have known about. After reaching about 80–100 students in those three ses- sions, I expanded the light microscopy outreach in Bangalore by collaborating with Whitefield Rising, a volunteer group with which my mother and I had previously worked. I taught several members of the group how to assemble and use the

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