Biophysical Society Bulletin | May 2020

May 2020

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Inside

Biophysics Week, started in 2016 and is held annually, is a global effort to increase awareness of the field of biophysics, raise the visibility of biophysicists around the world, including those who are not members of BPS, and to connect them with the global biophysics community. The importance of collaboration across boundaries is critical in science, especially in a highly interdisciplinary field such as biophysics. The Fifth Annual Biophysics Week, March 22–27, 2020, was recognized in a much different manner due to spread of COVID-19. As most countries around the world practiced social distancing, events and activities that were originally planned for Biophysics Week had to be cancelled. There were 62 registered Affiliate Events across 6 continents and 22 countries. BPS would like to acknowledge their efforts in planning these events, and would like to applaud and thank members and communities all over the world who virtually supported and participated in Biophysics Week. BPS offered several resources such as webinars, profiles, lesson plans, and more throughout the week. It has never been more important in science than today to work together and share information. In addition, BPS members and others banded together to share teaching and distance learning tools and stories about how COVID-19 has affected them, professionally and personally.

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President’s Message Biophysicist in Profile

Public Affairs Publications

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Biophysics Week

Career Development

Member Corner

Communities & Outreach

Upcoming Events

BPS would like to recognize our 2020 BiophysicsWeek Partners:

Biophysical Society of Serbia

SOBLA

President’s Message

Biophysics and the COVID-19 Pandemic As I write this contribution to the May BPS Bulletin , I am (like most of you) working from home, with no expectation that the situation will change for at least a month, maybe more. As I read about the projections of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths due to this virus, I am increas- ingly horrified. It seems unreal that such chaos could descend upon the

thing they can to help us get through this period and back on our feet once it is over. We must recognize that the situation is as difficult for them as it is for us. It is probably a good idea, once some semblance of normalcy returns, to contact your program directors to discuss how the pandemic and global shutdown affected the work in your group, and what steps can be taken to mitigate these effects. When we emerge on the other side of this crisis, and we will, it will be imperative for the scientific community to literal- ly bombard our fellow citizens and policy makers about the essential role of research (both fundamental and applied) in preventing future pandemics, as well as other looming global catastrophes, such as climate change. We need to convince them that decisions made at all levels of government must be based on facts and recommendations from experts. Knowl- edge is key to navigating the complex challenges of our global world. This pandemic has highlighted the shortsightedness, both long term and immediate, of governments around the world and the disastrous effects of the growing disregard for science in our societies. As scientists — biophysicists —we need to fight against ignorance and the glorification thereof. The Public Affairs Committee (PAC) of the BPS has long been actively involved in promoting the need for research to our policy makers. As regards the COVID-19 pandemic, to date (end of March), the PAC and BPS leadership have posted a special section on the BPS website https:/www.biophysics. org/education-careers/education-resources/covid-19-sci- ence-stories-and-resources with science articles, information about COVID-19, member stories, and educational resources including remote teaching tools. In the United States, PAC also coordinated an online letter writing campaign to urge Con- gress to pass the US$2 trillion emergency aid package, which eventually passed with bipartisan support. As we emerge from this crisis, I believe we must work much harder to convince our fellow citizens of the world of the impor- tance of research to their health and well-being. I believe it is incumbent on scientific societies like the BPS to wage an all-out assault on the anti-science rhetoric pervading our society. Per- haps this catastrophic pandemic will convince at least some who reject or disregard science that they do so at their own peril. BPS must join with other scientific societies in nationwide and global actions designed to enlighten and convince the citizenry and policy makers to take science and scientific research seriously. Send any ideas for action you may have to the Public Affairs Committee via the Society office (Society@biophysics.org) with the subject line Public Affairs - suggestions. I hope you are all well. I look forward to seeing you at the 2021 BPS Annual Meeting in Boston. Until then, chin up. We are all in this together. — Catherine A. Royer , President

Catherine A. Royer

entire world in such a short time. Amid this growing chaos, most of us biophysicists are comparatively lucky; we will not lose our jobs, we have plenty of papers to read and write, and group and collaborative meetings can be held virtually. We can, to some extent, continue to be productive. Of course, our lives have changed drastically, but compared to many, we are relatively fortunate during these extremely difficult times. Despite the relatively protected status of the research commu- nity, the pandemic and the necessary social distancing measures now in place around most of the world will have a profound im- pact on research productivity. Like many of you, my group mem- bers and I are trying to shift to writing and analysis, so that we can concentrate on the experimental side of our studies once we get back to work. Amidst the chaos and uncertainty, graduate students are worried about how all this will affect their doctoral timelines and future support, postdocs are worried about how this hiatus will impact their near term future job prospects, and PIs are worried about making progress towards the aims of their funded projects. How closing universities will affect their fiscal health is also of great concern to many. Many of us are grappling with how to teach courses online to undergraduate students who have been scattered across the country and the world. Un- der such circumstances, it can be tough to remain motivated. I hope that by the time you are reading this, we are all getting back to work, or that at least the prospects of doing so are looking good. In the interim, I hope that you all are keeping in touch with your research groups and your colleagues. Sharing interesting articles about your area of research or even links to the information about current pandemic with members of Subgroups or informal groups of BPS colleagues will strengthen our ties and our science in both the short and long term. You might think of organizing virtual happy hours with colleagues to discuss the latest findings or developments. Such virtual interac- tions help to keep us all motivated and positive about our work and the role of science in society. Many of us are worried about the impact the pandemic will have on funding for science. I have every confidence that the funders of our research, and the dedicated program directors and scien- tific review officers who oversee their programs, will do every-

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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

Call for Nominations: Biophysical Journal Editor-in-Chief The Publications Committee of the Biophysical Society is calling for nominations for the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s flagship publication, Biophysical Journal . This appointment will begin January 1, 2022, for one five-year term. The mission of Biophysical Journal ( BJ ) is to publish the highest quality original research that elucidates important biological, chemical, or physical mechanisms and provides quantitative insight into fundamental problems at the molecular, cellular, and systems and whole-organism levels. Articles published in the Journal should be of general interest to quantitative biologists, regardless of their research specialty. The Editor-in-Chief is the steward of the scientific content of the Journal and must have a broad understanding of biophysics as an evolving discipline. The Editor-in-Chief must have scientific stature and be committed to the Mission of the Biophysical Society, especially to enhance the position of the Journal to better serve the interests of the global community. As the principal ambassador for and public face of the Journal, nominees will have broad interests in biophysics; project and/or people management skills; strong organizational skills; strong written and oral communication skills; and interest in engaging with the scientific community, particularly through a social media pres- ence using established social media accounts to promote the Journal. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for carrying out the editorial policies established by the Society, and thus this position requires a commitment of 20–30% time and effort. The Editor-in-Chief is tasked to: • Establish and maintain the scientific standards of the Journal; ensure uniformity of scientific and Journal standards across all Journal content. • Recruit Associate Editor and Editorial Board Members and submit nominations to the Publications Committee. • Lead and mentor BJ’s Editorial Board, and develop processes to increase the efficiency, quality, and uniformity of the editorial processes. • Actively promote the Journal and encourage the submission of manuscripts; recruit manuscripts at conferences; commission Special Issues and Guest Editors. • Identify emerging areas of importance and solicit papers for submission. • Write editorials that discuss issues pertinent to BJ and its constituents. • Work with the Society Office staff on the day-to-day editorial management of BJ. The Publications Committee welcomes nominations of candidates with diverse backgrounds who are dedicated to the Society’s Values. Confidential nominations should be made to the Publications Committee through the Society Office (eicBJ@biophysics.org). The candidate’s CV (or website for CV) is helpful but not required for the nomination. A brief statement of endorsement is encouraged; self-nominations are welcome. The deadline for nominations is August 1, 2020.

Erin C. Dueber Marta Filizola Gilad Haran

Francesca Marassi Joseph A. Mindell Carolyn A. Moores

Anna Moroni Jennifer Ross David Stokes Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede 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

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.

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Biophysicist in Profile

Patricia Soto Areas of Research To decipher the pathological folding behavior of the prion protein.

Institution Creighton University

At-a-Glance

Patricia Soto grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, the daughter of an elementary school teacher and a salesman. The family believed in the importance of education, a value that she took to heart and continues to prioritize as an associate professor in the physics department at Creighton University, a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI).

Patricia Soto

As a teenager, Patricia Soto read about particle physics and the experiments being performed at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN. It ignited a passion with- in her, and informed her decision to study physics in college, at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. “In my opinion, CERN represents one of the greatest enterprises of humankind,” she says. “However, after a couple of years in college other insights influenced my decision to move to biophysics: In a long conver- sation, that 25 years later I still remember, a dear philosophy teacher argued that the ‘next’ century (that is, the 21st century) would be about the human body, what is inside us. I also ap- proached a professor in electrical engineering who introduced me to the world of molecular modeling of ion channels. I imme- diately fell in love with the power of the technique! It seemed to me the perfect blend of physical modeling, interesting biologi- cal questions, and my delight with computer coding.” She had not encountered a personal computer until her fresh- man year of college, but once she did, she started tinkering with code writing in her spare time. She also read quite a bit about the unknowns of the human brain, and thought that physics could offer powerful tools to decipher the behavior of neurons. During her undergraduate studies, Soto had the opportunity to work on an educational project with Aldona Gabriunas , a physics faculty member who was implementing active learning techniques in introductory physics courses for engineering students. She was also involved in a project to train high school teachers to bring modern physics to the classroom, under the leadership of Bernardo Gómez . After she finished college, she tried a few different careers, including scientometrics, human rights activism, and high school teaching. She quickly realized that her calling was to pursue a doctorate, so she began preparations. She worked on her English language skills, and started checking the affiliations of authors who wrote articles she could understand, to narrow down places to apply to graduate school. She received a travel award to attend the IUPAB (International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics) conference in New Delhi, India, “far from my country and close to my professional goals,” she shares. She

earned her PhD at the University of Groningen in the Nether- lands, where her main focus was figuring out the driving forces of peptide folding in non-aqueous environments. Soto then undertook postdoctoral work at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the group of Joan-Emma Shea . “I enjoyed the most being so close to top-notch science, per- fect weather, and the Pacific Ocean shoreline!” she says. “My main project focused on identifying the factors that drive and stabilize the aggregation of short sequences derived from the Alzheimer’s A β peptide. Under the guidance of my PI, I was able to secure funding from the American Association of University Women.” During her postdoc, she had the opportunity to attend her first professional conference, an American Chemical Society meeting. She wanted to use the conference as an opportuni- ty to explore career pathways in industry and academia, and as part of that search, she decided to attend a panel called “How to Establish a Research Program at a PUI,” though she did not know what PUI stood for. “I immediately felt a unique connection with the panelists and the attendees: I marveled at the genuine excitement of the panelists on how to combine teaching and research with undergrads. I was also impressed with the attendees who sat nearby me and who were willing to answer my questions,” she shares. “I then decided that getting a faculty position at a PUI would fit what I believe in: the power of education combined with the indescribable intellectual joy of scientific research.” She was hired for a one-year position in the physics depart- ment at Creighton University, a PUI in Omaha, Nebraska, which was then renewed for a couple of years until she began a tenure-track contract. “I earned tenure in the year 2017, after I benefitted from the extension of the tenure clock due to ma- ternity leaves,” she explains. Following the birth of her second child, Soto decided to reach out to Latinos in her community, putting together a presenta- tion of her research on protein misfolding targeted at Latino

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Biophysicist in Profile

professionals, rather than experts in her field. “Nicely enough, two Latino attendees, Maria Christensen and Ronald Shikiya , happened to be experts in the biology of prion protein misfold- ing who worked in the medical school of my institution. They connected me with Jason Bartz , their PI. Since then, we have established a solid collaboration that inspires my modeling projects,” she shares.

Her research has been funded by state programs, specifically the National Institutes of Health INBRE (IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence) and the National Science Foundation EPSCoR (Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) but her challenges in getting federal funding motivated her to work on her scientific writing skills. “Through this path, I became involved with a supportive com- munity that understands and respects my limitations,” she shares. “The members of this community inspire me to refine my thinking and convey my ideas with greater clarity, asser- tiveness, and purpose.” Sustaining scholarship at a PUI has had its challenges, but Soto has found key support through inter-institutional pro- fessional networks. “I was lucky to be chosen as member of the National Science Foundation ADVANCE ASAP network. The five-year grant helped me to contextualize my pro- fessional performance through peer mentoring by women faculty in STEM at PUIs. Being a member of AAPT (American Association of Physics Teachers) opened doors to enrich my educational practice. Recently, I joined the MERCURY consor- tium (http:/mercuryconsortium.org/), a community of faculty at PUIs that pursue excellence in molecular computational re- search,” she shares, in hopes that these resources will benefit other faculty at PUIs.

Soto’s lab group meeting via video call in Spring 2020

Soto is currently an associate professor in Creighton’s physics department. “The culture, academics, and administration of Creighton University inspire and support research with under- graduates,” she says. “Excellence in research and quality teach- ing (three courses per semester) are equally weighted for ten- ure and promotion in the physics department.” This is a great fit for Soto, who describes her passion for scholarly teaching as on par with her dedication to disciplinary research. “I embrace teaching as the one contribution I can have on young minds who would follow a wide range of after-college pathways. I envision my role as a scaffold that my students may use to develop reasoning habits and skills consistent with the scien- tific method,” she says. “Therefore, I have invested myself in tailoring my teaching to active learning in a student-centered style. To design my curricular material, I use keen observation and interpretation of my students’ behavior and responses, analysis of assessment and metacognition metrics, and my learning of disciplinary-based education research work. As with any enterprise there have been ups and downs, but overall my students and I see a sustainable positive slope!” Her group has trained 47 undergraduates majoring in neuro- science, biology, biochemistry, chemistry, or physics. While in her lab, the students engage in modular and interconnected subprojects that fit with the main research plan. “Our group pro- vides an authentic interdisciplinary undergraduate research ex- perience at the interface of life and physical sciences. Graduates from the research group are attending—or have attended— medical school, dental school, or graduate school, or have jobs in the knowledge industry,” Soto shares. “Undergraduates often say howmuch they enjoy using a mix of what they have learned in their standard courses to tackle our research projects. I am thrilled when my students reach the level of connecting data and visual representation with an interpretation they propose themselves that answers the science question we have posed. Every time this happens, I confirm I am in the right place!”

Soto’s family social distancing in March

At the time of writing, Soto and her family are participating in social distancing in response to the global COVID-19 pandem- ic. “On the positive side, we have gotten to re-connect with each other, and with friends — thanks internet and social media! We have had a chance to eat a warm lunch every day and to walk our dog. I have been following more closely the schoolwork of my three kids. We have also had a chance to ponder our attitude as responsible citizens and as a part of something larger than us, and to recognize the privileges that we have,” she shares. “Paraphrasing an email I wrote to my students, we see this time as an opportunity to grow and en- rich our lives, to pull together through this, and to get creative while we navigate the unexpected.”

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Public Affairs

Science and Research in the Global Political Landscape: The US and China

Although the BPS Annual Meeting occurred just a short time ago, the intervening events and accompanying dramatic changes to our daily lives make it feel like a distant memory. However, the messages conveyed in the BPS Public Affairs Committee (PAC) session on the intersection of global science and research and US-China relations are acutely relevant at this moment. The session provided the background of the recent impressive growth of Chinese science and the rela- tionship of this growth to recruitment of foreign expertise. It addressed the flouting of funding agency rules by some US- based recruits and strategies that universities are developing to mitigate these offenses. Finally, the session addressed the danger that these strategies will yield unintended conse- quences of both inhibiting collaborative science and fostering racial profiling of Chinese American scientists. The PAC is grateful to the panel participants for providing their time, knowledge, and experience to inform our Biophysical Society community on this important topic. Steadily increasing growth in Chinese STEM investment is a reality that both provides opportunities for fruitful collabora- tion and challenges US dominance. Tai-Ming Chueng from the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at University of California San Diego described the detailed plans that the Chi- nese government is implementing to gain world prominence in STEM fields. A central component of this effort is importing external expertise through combined enticement of Chinese ex-patriots with STEM expertise back to China and recruit- ment of foreign scientists through many channels such as the Thousand Talents Program. These highly competitive efforts will continue for the foreseeable future. The Chinese STEM recruitment programs have been accom- panied by a number of transgressions by US-based scientists. Michael Lauer , Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), described multiple types of offenses. First, recruits to Chinese talent programs have not reported financial support, for both salary and research, to the NIH. Second, time commitments have not been reported to universities and funding agencies. In the most egregious cases, laboratory materials such as cell lines and intellectual property, including grant proposals, have been exchanged be- tween scientists based in the US and China. Notably, among the scientists charged with these offenses, a significant num- ber are not of Chinese descent. Finally, in many of the cited cases, no problems would have occurred had the scientists involved exercised full disclosure as stipulated by the univer- sities and funding agencies.

Given that the majority of the transgressions outlined above have involved academic scientists, universities are at the forefront of implementing best practices for prevention, while preserving legitimate collaborative STEM activities between the Unites States and China. Sandra Brown , Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California San Diego, described the high level of research activity at that institution and its many connections with China, ranging from having the highest enrollment of Chinese students in the University of California system to hosting a large number of Chinese grad- uate students and visiting scientists in STEM fields. Efforts to mitigate the transgressions described by Lauer include increased outreach to educate faculty, students, and staff on the regulations associated with collaborative arrangements, both international and domestic. In the future, the university will practice enhanced disclosure and monitoring of compli- ance, while also subjecting collaborative arrangements to enhanced scrutiny. Implementation of these practices will be accompanied by restrictions on who can participate in what research and will heighten fears among both faculty and students. A disturbing outcome of investigations into transgressions related to STEM collaborations with China is the perception that all Asian American scientists are potentially guilty. Frank Wu of the University of California Hastings College of Law pointed out that this perception is a reflection of a historical tradition in the United States of singling out the “other,” in this case Asian Americans, for blame. Although he strongly supported actions to sanction “bad actors” involved in US-China STEM collaboration, he also emphasized the dan- ger of stigmatizing all Chinese American scientists. Unfortunately, with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, this stigma is in danger of being extended to all Asian Americans. The themes of the PAC session have stark implications for how the world will manage the COVID-19 pandemic and how post-COVID-19 international relations will affect scientific progress in both the United States and China. Development of effective strategies for mitigating the effects of the virus requires open collaboration among scientists throughout the world. Specifically, international collaboration with the Chinese scientists and healthcare providers who have gained first-hand experience during the Wuhan outbreak is indispen- sible to the world’s efforts at combating the pandemic.

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Public Affairs

Responding to the COVID-19 Threat through Investments in Fundamental Biomedical Research Public Affairs Committee of the Biophysical Society The battle against the COVID-19 pandemic is being waged by healthcare workers and politicians who are implementing the tools of medicine and public policy in an attempt to track the spread of infection, limit its transmission, and treat the sickest individuals. However, effectively containing and limiting the spread of COVID-19, as well as responding to future pandemics emerging, as yet unknown, infectious diseases, will require substantial increases in our knowledge of how this virus and other pathogens infect humans, how the human immune system responds to infection, and how to leverage this understanding to develop new vaccines and drugs. These needs can only be addressed by substantial increased funding for fundamental biomedical research, as supported through congressional appropriations to federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Department of Energy. These funding increases need to be immediate in order to effectively respond to COVID-19, such as to support testing and vaccine development. Additionally, any funding increases must be sustained in order to better understand not only this virus but other infectious diseases that could spark the next global pandemic. Support is needed to study the technological infrastructure these infectious agents and the underlying biology of how pathogens infect humans and how the human immune system responds. Substantially increasing funding in fundamental biomedical research is not only our best weapon in eradicating COVID-19 entirely, but also in preventing future pandemics from killing millions more and ravaging our economies and societies.

require substantial immediate and sustained increases in appro- priations to NIH, NSF, DOE, and other federal agencies that fund fundamental biomedical research. The US Congress just passed a $2 trillion stimulus package with major new investments in the economy and healthcare. To a much lesser extent, funding for fundamental biomedical research was also provided in this bill. Indeed, approximately $950million was dedicated to supporting research efforts at the NIH. While this seems like a large amount of funding, it represents less than 0.05 percent of the stimulus package and only a 2.2 percent increase in the overall FY20 operating budget of the NIH; sub- stantially less even than recent annual NIH budget increases. A significantly larger immediate and sustained increase in funda- mental research funding will be needed to combat COVID-19 and to protect us from the inevitable next pandemic. The 48-page NIH-Wide Strategic Plan 2016–2020 summary provides an excellent overview of budgetary needs required to address this crisis, and should be widely read. The Strategic Plan on vaccine adjuvants for the National Institute of Allergy and In- fectious Disease (NIAID) is particularly important. Yet many critical research components for the coronavirus response are led by the roughly 35,000 NIH-funded Principal Investigators, working

The COVID-19 outbreak is putting enormous strains on our hospitals, healthcare providers, and public health system. The immediate response to the pandemic is focused, necessarily, on tracking the progression of infection, limiting its spread through social distancing, and other behavioral modifications, and treating the sickest infected individuals who are unable to recover on their own in self-quarantine. However, effectively containing and limiting the spread of COVID-19 also depends heavily on funda- mental biomedical research being conducted right now, in large part because we know so little about this virus, the way in which it infects individuals, how the human immune system responds to it, and how it spreads fromperson to person. The future response to the pandemic needed to stop COVID-19 from return- ing seasonally and to eradicate it from the human population, as well as to responding to other, as yet unknown, emerging infec- tious diseases, depends almost entirely on the results of funda- mental biomedical research yet to be conducted. These current and future research programs are not funded throughMedicare, Medicaid or any health insurance provider. Rather, they depend on appropriations to federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE). COVID-19, the next novel coronavirus, or other infectious disease that could spark a global pandemic that kills millions and destroys economies worldwide,

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primarily at research universities and institutes across the nation, whose research is supported by other NIH Institutes and Centers. Supplemental funding to existing NIH grants throughmecha- nisms recently instituted by some NIH Institutes, such as National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute of General Medical Sciences, is one way in which to address these problems quickly and effectively. We recommend that similar steps be taken by the other NIH Institutes and US research funding agencies. However, more needs to be done. In terms of necessary fundamental and applied research, the budgetary response to the outbreak will require focused pro- posals identifying immediate increased investments, as well as longer termoutlays to support a sustained response to this and future pandemics. Identified below are several critical areas of both fundamental and translational research, informed by the collective experience of Biophysical Society members, which require congressional support for immediate and sustained increased funding in order to address the challenges posed by the current coronavirus pandemic, as well as to position our nation to respond quickly and effectively to the inevitable next pandemic outbreak. Immediate Fundamental Biomedical Research Funding Needs Outlined below are areas of research and development that re- quire substantial immediate increases in funding for fundamental biomedical research to effectively respond to COVID-19. Test Development: Sensitive and accurate tests exist for viral sequences and proteins that unambiguously indicate infection. However, increasing the speed of the tests and ensuring a robust supply line are key to their utilization, as demonstrated by the challenges faced in the February roll out of COVID-19 testing in the United States. • Initiatives to increase the speed of current polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based testing methods through NIH, NSF, and DOE should be established and explicitly funded. • Programs to support the rapid development of novel tests that leverage non-PCR technologies that could have higher throughput and/or accuracy than current tests, such as sero- logical tests currently under development. • A new supply chain analysis unit should be established in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in order to ensure that the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries produce reagents for millions of testing kits. Vaccine Development: Vaccines represent the best long-term response to infectious

diseases, including COVID-19, as well as other coronaviruses and emerging pathogens. Vaccines protect healthy individuals from getting sick, stop the spread of disease and, in certain cases such as smallpox, can completely eradicate a particular virus from the world. • The most effective vaccines currently in use are based on either purified but inactivated virus particles or purified subunits of the virus, for example the influenza hemag- glutinin protein. Producing these proteins in the very high amounts needed tomanufacture millions of doses requires understanding the mechanisms of production that the virus uses tomake copies of its proteins such that it can generate new viruses and spread infection. Congress should appropri- ate funds adequate to expand substantially the existing NIAID-supported activities in this area. • Development of vaccines requires testing with the actual infectious agents. This requires enhanced containment facil- ities for labs and animal facilities. Congress should appropri- ate funds to ensure institutions are in a position to carry out such testing and development, and can put in place the re- quired containment facilities. NIAID should be provided with a dedicated fund to finance trials of new vaccine candidates. Sustained Fundamental Biomedical Research Funding Needs Outlined below are areas of research and development that require substantial future sustained increases in funding for fundamental biomedical research to effectively respond to COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases. These needs can be broadly categorized into: (1) building the infrastructure required to apply the most advanced experimental techniques to understanding coronaviruses and other infectious diseases; and (2) biological studies to understand how viruses and other pathogens infect and replicate in humans and how the human immune system responds, or sometimes fails to respond, to these infectious agents. Building Infrastructure for Fundamental Biomedical Research Structural Biology: In order to understand the possible targets for antibodies and anti-viral drugs, as well as to understand the steps involved in viral attachment to host cells, knowledge of the precise struc- tures of all of the components of the virus are needed. This information is critical for the development of new vaccines and therapeutics to protect and treat individuals. The determination of the high-resolution three-dimensional structures of the viral par- ticles, proteins, nucleic acids, andmembrane requires sophisticat-

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Public Affairs

ed instrumentation and facilities, including those for cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and X-ray diffraction. The purchase costs of these instruments are in the millions of dollars per instrument, and the annual budgets needed to keep each of these instruments working are often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. • Congress should substantially increase funding of existing NMR, cryo-EM, and X-ray diffraction facilities across the nation. • In addition, the NIH and DOE budgets should be supplement- ed for dedicated increases in the X-ray diffraction beamlines at synchrotron facilities, such as at Argonne and Brookhaven National Laboratories. • To provide the trained personnel needed to use these instruments, budgets for NIH Training Grants to support the next-generation of structural biologists in these areas should be increased. Computational Biology: Massive computational resources should also be harnessed in the fight against coronavirus and emerging infectious diseases. Computational biology is a key component of any research effort aimed at understanding and eventually mitigating disease. Fund- ing initiatives to increase access to computational facilities at NIH, NSF, and DOE, and to support computational research should be established and explicitly funded, including: • Computational structural biology, which provides structural models of viral proteins and capsids that can be used in solv- ing experimental structures and virtual screening of potential drugs. These methods can also characterize the dynamic properties of viral proteins and how these may be affected by the mutations that are sure to occur. • Large, multi-scale simulations help to understand cellular processes and responses to changing conditions such as viral entry, reproduction, and budding. • Epidemiological simulations can track and predict viral spread, integrating real-time human travel data, epidemio- logical data and viral sequencing data to forecast the impact of potential public health interventions and better project potential outbreak trajectories in the United States and across its borders. Understanding Infection and Immunity Biochemistry of Viral Replication: Current effective targets of anti-viral drugs include the enzymes used by the virus to replicate their RNA and the proteases used by the virus to generate the nucleocapsid and other viral structur-

al proteins—both of which are needed for the generation of new virus particles in the human body. NIH budgets for research on these enzymes andmethods by which to inhibit their functions should be supplemented to support substantial expansion of research programs targeting this area. The Immune Response: The various types of white blood cells of the human immune systemhave evolved extremely sophisticated and effective mechanisms for detecting and counterattacking invaders, be they viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, or toxins. However, many people infected with the COVID-19 virus and other pathogens are unable tomount a sufficient immune response to fight off the virus. The extraordinary variation needed in the nature of the antibodies produced, and the generation of killer white cells that can recognize infected cells, leaves a great deal to be learned. Research in this area represents a key element of developing drugs and vaccines against COVID-19. The immune system protects us from all manner of pathogens, not just coronaviruses. We need to accelerate our understanding of all aspects of the immune system, both because of the importance in the design of vaccines, and in the body’s response to infection in the absence of prior vaccination. Congress should greatly increase funding for research focused on the immune system. Call to Action Today, we are witnessing how a single infectious disease can spread like wildfire through the world’s population, with utter disregard for its victims’ stations in life or countries of residence. This global pandemic is not only killing thousands but also chang- ing the very norms of human interaction and shuttering econo- mies around the world. Even when this coronavirus infection is tamed, its societal and economic impacts will be devastating and long-lasting. As certain as we can say that this generation has never experienced anything remotely like this, it is, unfortunately, entirely possible that we could relive this nightmare over and over again. As ill-prepared as we were for this pandemic, we remain equally undefended against the inevitable next emerging infec- tious disease that will rip through the human population. This situation is not inevitable. We can fight off this coronavirus, per- haps even vanquish it fromhumankind forever, and generate the knowledge and tools required to stop the next pandemic before it gains hold. This will take an investment in science, the likes of which we have not seen since the Sputnik era, if ever. Fundamen- tal biomedical research is the only way to generate the knowl- edge of how pathogens with pandemic potential infect humans, how the human immune system responds to these infections, and how to leverage this understanding to develop new vaccines and drugs. It is not only our best weapon in eventually ending this pandemic, but also in preventing future pandemics from killing millions more and ravaging our economies and societies. We call upon our policy makers to implement transformative legislation for massive biomedical research funding now.

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Publications

Know the Editor Padmini Rangamani

Open Access: Funder Mandates

University of California, San Diego Editor, Cell Biophysics Biophysical Journal

Last month’s article outlined open access publishing at the Biophysical Society: what it is, how it works, and what options are available for open access publishing at BPS. This article will provide a brief and simplified overview of two initiatives involving funder mandates. Plan S News and discussions about Plan S have dominated the science publishing world for the last few years. Plan S is the initiative put forth by cOAlition S, a group of primarily European funding bodies that support scientific research. Plan S requires that, “With effect from 2021, all scholarly publications on the results from research funded by public or private grants provided by national, regional, and international research councils and funding bodies, must be published in Open Access Journals, on Open Access Platforms, or made immediately available through Open Access Repositories without embargo.” For the last two years or so, Plan S has been a confusing, shifting, and complicated initiative that generated more questions than answers from publishers. Current details about the coalition and Plan S can be found on the website https:/www.coalition-s.org; however, two principles of the program have been of particular concern to publishers such as the Biophysical Society: “cOAlition S funders will not financially support ‘hybrid’ Open Access publication fees in subscription venues.” Biophysical Journal is a hybrid journal and as such authors funded by Plan S signatories are not permitted to publish there. When we looked at the impact on the journal almost two years ago, there were about 7–8 percent of authors sup- ported by Plan S funders. These are BPS members who would not be permitted to publish in Biophysical Journal , which is one of the many reasons the Society is planning to launch a fully open access journal to serve its members (see last month’s article). “Authors may publish in a subscription journal and make either the final published version (Version of Record [VoR]) or the Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM) openly available in a repository.” This, obviously threatens the 6–12-month embargo policy that most subscription journals rely on to secure subscription revenue. Plan S encourages publishers to transition subscription-based journals to open access through “transformative agree- ments” — complicated licensing agreements negotiated with individual institutions and consortia around the world. It is

Padmini Rangamani

What are you currently working on that excites you? I’m currently working on models for physical simulations of the different aspects of structural plasticity in dendritic spines. Dendritic spines are small bulbous structures that protrude from dendrites in neurons and are sites of synaptic activity. Despite their small size, they have very rich biophys- ics — signaling, membrane mechanics, actin remodeling, organelle dynamics — you name it, they do it! I find these structures fascinating. Working on these models has led me to incorporate new areas into my research program from computational math and graphics. There is so much we don’t know and I’m learning a lot each day both in terms of science and techniques. How do you stay on top of all the latest developments in your field? Given the volume of research that is put out every day, this is a challenge. I’m subscribed to table of content emails for many journals and browse through them to find papers that I’m interested in (not necessarily just topics I’m working on) because I like to read very broadly. My group has a Twitter account and I find papers to read on science Twitter every day. These days, websites like ResearchGate make it easy to find updates. Of course, making time to read carefully is another story altogether. I set aside dedicated time in my calendar to read everyday and try to read at least one paper each day. Some days work better than others for this purpose depend- ing on other responsibilities or deadlines, but I try to protect my reading time. One other thing we do in my group is a group think — if there is a new topic we want to learn about, each of us will read three or four papers and explain it to the rest of the group. That way, we get quickly caught up on 30- 40 seminal papers in the field. This has been great fun for us.

FollowBPS Journals on Twitter @BiophysJ @BiophysicistJ

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not feasible for small Society publishers to negotiate such agreements and one result of the open access movement is more Society journals are being driven to partner with larger or commercial publishers. In addition to the matter of open or subscription access, Plan S signatory funding bodies may dictate where and how authors publish, and there are very specific requirements that publishers and repositories must meet. Richard Horton , Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet , has been quoted as saying, “The debate about Plan S is actually a debate about the very future of scientific publication, and we should be much clearer about that.” Executive Order In fall 2019, rumors circulated that the White House would be issuing an Executive Order requiring US government-funded research to be immediately open and available to the world. This would represent a significant change from current US policy, which allows papers that report the results of federally

funded studies to be published behind a paywall for up to one year. By December 2019, more than 125 scientific societies responded to the rumors in three separate letters, acknowl- edging general support for the concept of open access but arguing that such a move would be costly, could bankrupt many scientific societies that rely on income from journal subscriptions, and would harm the scientific enterprise. On January 30, 2020, the Office for Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) tweeted about their first stakeholder meeting and by late February released a Request for Information. The administration let it be known they were meeting with representatives of academic institutions, libraries, commer- cial publishers, non-profit publishers, and research funders. Throughout, OSTP has been very circumspect about any details of a policy and say the comment period was prompted by the letters commenting on the rumored Executive Order. Although originally scheduled to end in March, the comment period was extended to May 6. By the time you read this, we hope to know more.

In the last five years there has been an explosion of interest in phase separation as an organizing principle in signal transduction, nuclear organization, and chromatin structure. Phase separation and generalizations thereof are governed by multivalence of interaction motifs and/or domains within protein and nucleic acids, especially RNA molecules. We are inviting contributions that treat any aspect of the relevance of phase separation to biology. These could include new experimental results, critical reviews of the state of the field, guides to the design and interpretation of experiments, explorations of the basic principles underlying phase separation, qualitative and quantitative explorations of the consequences of phase separation for biology, or historical perspectives on the development of current models. Special Issue: Phase Separation in Nucleic Acid Biochemistry and Signal Transduction Biophysical Journal Editors: Jason Kahn, University of Maryland, College Park Rohit Pappu, Washington University in St. Louis Edward Lemke, Johannes Gutenberg University and Institute of Molecular Biology Mainz Call for Papers

Deadline for submission: August 31, 2020

To submit, visit biophysj.msubmit.net

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