Biophysical Society Bulletin | November 2019

November 2019

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y

Society Names 2020 Fellows The Biophysical Society is proud to announce its 2020 class of Fellows. This honor is given to Society members who have demonstrated sustained excellence in science and have contributed to the expansion of the field of biophysics. The 2020 Fellows will be recognized at the Awards Ceremony on Monday evening, February 17, 2020, at the San Diego Convention Center in California during the Biophysical Society’s 64th Annual Meeting. The 2020 Fellows are:

Charalampos Babis Kalodimos , St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, USA, for elucidat- ing important functional roles of protein-ligand binding, protein allostery, and chaperone-substrate interactions through pioneering applications of NMR spectroscopy.

Steven Chu , Stanford Uni- versity, USA, for exceptional applications of optical and polymer physics to the study of single biomolecules that led tomechanistic insights into the dynamics of enzymes, RNA, and DNA, and for his tireless service to the scientific community as a public intellectual and as US Secretary of Energy. Eva Nogales , University of California, Berkeley, USA, for pushing the barriers of what was thought possible using cryo-EM, which resulted in important insights into the cytoskeleton, central dogma machin- ery, and dynamics of cell division.

Taekjip Ha , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA, for his contributions to single-molecule biophysics approaches which have fur- thered our understanding of complex interacting biological systems.

Charalampos Babis Kalodimos

Steven Chu

Taekjip Ha

Inside

Cynthia Wolberger , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA, for transforming our under- standing of the molecular mechanisms underlying gene regulation through elegant structural studies.

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President’s Message Biophysicist in Profile

Public Affairs

Cynthia Wolberger

Eva Nogales

Career Development Member Corner Student Spotlight Annual Meeting Communities Upcoming Events Grants and Opportunities

Benjamin Schuler , University of Zurich, Switzerland, for the development and appli- cation of advanced sin- gle-molecule methods for uncovering physical principles underlying protein folding, dynam- ics, and interactions.

Hao Wu , Harvard University, Boston Children’s Hospital, USA, for fundamentally revis- ing howwe view intracellular signaling and cellular organi- zation, through discovering supramolecular “signalo- somes” formed by innate immune signaling proteins, mechanisms that govern cooperative assembly, and proximity-driven enzyme activation.

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Benjamin Schuler

Hao Wu

President’s Message

How CanWe Better Encourage Funding of Innovative Research? Introductory Note: This column is focused on peer-review of grant applications at the US National Institutes of Health. While this focus is not directly applicable to all of our members, including many in the United States who are funded by other federal agencies, I expect that the concepts discussed here are relevant to the grant programs of foundations and governments around the world.

David. W. Piston

Scientific progress depends on a continual influx of new ideas that challenge established thinking, as well as the develop- ment of new approaches that can overcome experimental barriers. The field of biophysics is centrally positioned to provide such ideas and approaches, so nurturing programs that promote these developments is important to our Society. Many funding agencies have the stated goal of innovation, but in times of limited resources, grant reviewers tend to become risk-averse, which rewards less risky projects that are necessarily less innovative. In particular, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recognized the need for increased innovation, and has tried many approaches to encourage innovation in its grant port- folio. I have experienced this as an applicant, a reviewer, and a review panel chair. The most obvious efforts are the specific grant programs designed to promote high-risk, high-impact research. These include Transformative R01 grants, Pioneer Awards, and New Innovator Awards, but even together, the funding for these programs totals less than one percent of the NIH budget. It would seem prudent for a larger percentage of funding to be directed to truly innovative research. These high-risk, high-reward grant programs have their own review process, and the reviewers are given specific criteria for evaluation, but the results of the reviews still favor ideas with previous publications. Even though an innovative and novel concept might be viewed as potentially high-impact, it is extremely rare to see such a proposal funded without published preliminary data. The requirement for extensive preliminary data means that only highly funded investigators or those at deep-pocketed institutions can explore entirely new lines of research. While the researchers at these places may be talented and productive, limiting the source of new ideas to such a small number of labs is unlikely to maximize scientific progress. From a review perspective, I understand the difficulty in evaluating new ideas without preliminary data — they all sound too good to be true — and this is especially true for proposals that are not squarely in my field. More re- cently, NIH added a specific innovation scoring criterion in all of their research grant reviews. In theory, this is a great idea,

but the data show what was always obvious to those of us that do a lot of grant reviews: the scores given for this criteri- on have little correlation to the final scientific merit scores. Efforts by the NIH have been based on changing reviewer behavior, which is difficult if not impossible. A better approach would be to take advantage of existing reviewer behavior to rank innovative proposals. This approach would leverage the full set of data provided by the review panel impact scores. Currently the NIH evaluates the priority of proposals using a scientific impact score with a range of 1 to 9, where a score of 1 represents the highest impact. All of the reviewers on the panel score each proposal based on written critiques from a subset of reviewers and discussion of the whole panel. All of the scores are averaged and this is multiplied by 10, yielding a final impact score ranging from 10 to 90 (generally proposals with impact scores in the range of 10 to 30 are competitive for funding). This single number is used by NIH to prioritize funding within scientific priorities established by each institute. In other words, the mean of a potentially complex distribution is used as the only descriptor of the entire process. As scientists, none of us would consider reporting only averages of distributions, without any acknowledgement of the variations, deviations, or details about the shape of the distribution. Yet, this is exactly how we allow our funding to be decided. From my experiences on NIH review panels, I know that exciting grant applications in terms of innovation and potential high-impact usually engender the most spirited discussion. When these proposals are viewed as high-risk, the discussion often ends without a clear consensus. This leaves each reviewer free to “vote their conscience,” which means that many will vote in agreement with one side of the argument. The resulting scientific impact score is reported as the average, yet there might not be a single reviewer who actually gave that average score. For example, a grant where half of the reviewers score 1 and the other half score 5 would receive a scientific impact score of 30. This would yield the same impact score as for a proposal where all reviewers score 3, even though not a single reviewer scored those two proposals equally. My experience suggests that the inability

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President’s Message

Officers President

David W. Piston President-Elect Catherine Royer Past-President Angela Gronenborn Secretary Erin Sheets Treasurer Kalina Hristova Council Zev Bryant Linda Columbus Michelle A. Digman Marta Filizola Teresa Giraldez Ruben Gonzalez, Jr. Joseph A. Mindell Anna Moroni Marina Ramirez-Alvarado Jennifer Ross David Stokes Pernilla Wittung-Stafeshede Biophysical Journal Jane Dyson Editor-in-Chief The Biophysicist Sam Safran Editor-in-Chief

to reach consensus almost always arises from different perceptions of feasibility and risk. The fact that different reviewers have different risk tolerance in their evaluations should be a strength of the review process, but by report- ing only average results, this potential strength is lost. To increase the proportion of grant funding that supports innovative, high-risk research, we should use all the information the review- ers are already providing. This would mean awarding some grants based on impact score distributions rather than solely on the aver- age. I wish that I could present a statistical

argument about how best to accomplish this, but the data needed to do so are not freely available from NIH. This would include widths of distributions, the frequency of non-normal distributions, and feedback from review panel chairs and the NIH Scientific Review Officers regarding the perceived risk and innovation of grants with broad and/or non-normal distributions. I hope that we can begin an evidenced-based dialog with the NIH and other funding agencies around the world towards encouraging innovation and risk in our research. — David W. Piston

NOWACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS Accepted articles will be published at no charge if submitted prior to January 1, 2020. For additional information about article types, Instructions to Authors, and to submit, visit www.thebiophysicist.org.

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 © 2019 by the Biophysical Society. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Be Involved. The Biophysical Society (BPS) provides many opportunities for members to get involved and give back to the biophysics community.

To learn more about the different opportunities, please visit www.biophysics.org/get-involved.

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Biophysicist in Profile

SethWeinberg Areas of Research Computational modeling of molecular, cellular, and multi-cellular systems

Institution The Ohio State University

At-a-Glance

Seth Weinberg recently moved his computational modeling lab from Virginia Commonwealth University to the Biomedical Engineering Department of the Ohio State University. “My favorite thing about biophysics is the elegance in so many of the techniques and approaches used in the field and how the field is so highly interdisciplinary in nature. My training is in biomedical engi- neering and biomathematics, and I enjoy that my interactions within the biophysics field include talking with physicists, chemists, biologists, computer scientists, engineers, and more,” he shares. “Because so many scientists enter the field from different backgrounds, I have learned so many different ideas and approaches in the study of biophysics and through attending Biophysical Society meetings.”

Seth Weinberg

Growing up in Tampa, Florida, Seth Weinberg , associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Ohio State University, knew he wanted to be a professor. “From a very early age, I knew that I enjoyed both teaching and exploring science, and college professor was a natural fit for these interests,” he explains. He attended Duke University for his undergraduate studies, where he was first exposed to scientific research. He worked in an ultrasound research lab, where he built and tested new designs for high-frequency transducers. He was also ventur- ing into biophysics for the first time, through his coursework in modeling of excitable cell electrophysiology. “I took a course called ‘Bioelectricity’ taught by Roger Barr, in which I learned the basics of using mathematical modeling to describe cur- rents through ion channels and cellular excitability,” he says. “This course was the first time that I really appreciated how powerful and elegant biophysical modeling could be, although it would be several years until modeling became my primary research focus.” After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 2006, with a major in biomedical engineering and a minor in mathematics, he attended Johns Hopkins University for his PhD. He joined Leslie Tung’s lab, where he worked on defibrillation of the heart, strengthening his interest in cardiac electrophysiology. Weinberg then joined the Biomathematics Initiative at the College of William and Mary as a postdoctoral fellow. He worked under the advisement of Gregory D. Conradi Smith on developing stochastic models of subcellular calcium signaling in cardiac myocytes. Following his postdoctoral studies, he worked as a research assistant professor at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center at Old Dominion University for two years.

The transition from postdoc to independent scientist was a challenging one for Weinberg, as it is for many people. “It is in general a very overwhelming time, brainstorming ideas for new projects, writing grants, and finding my way through a new department and university. It was personally challeng- ing, because my twin daughters had just been born, so I had the additional challenge of being a first-time father,” he says. “Sleep was rare at this time in my life. I did not have one spe- cific approach to facing this challenge, but just tried to take each day and task one at a time. I did my best to organize and prioritize the different tasks. I was fortunate to have great colleagues and mentors for advice on how to manage this challenging time.” In 2016, he accepted a position as an assistant professor in biomedical engineering at Virginia Commonwealth Universi- ty, where he remained until this fall. Weinberg has recently started a new position as an associate professor in biomedical engineering at the Ohio State University, and is also affiliated with the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute at the Wex- ner Medical Center at Ohio State. His lab has two main research areas of focus — computa- tional cardiac electrophysiology and computational mechano- biology. “My interest in cardiac electrophysiology began with my early coursework under Roger Barr and continued with my PhD work on defibrillation of the heart with Leslie Tung . My interest in mechanobiology began with an early collaboration with my colleague Christopher Lemmon at Virginia Common- wealth University,” he explains. “Chris is an experimental bioengineer who studies — among other topics — cellular regulation of the extracellular matrix. Towards the end of my postdoc, Chris and I discussed an idea for modeling the as- sembly of the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin and how cells mechanically regulate this process.”

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Biophysicist in Profile

The Weinberg lab currently has several active and on-going projects. “On the cardiac side of the lab, we are building com- putational models to study the role of subcellular localization of the sodium ion channel in cardiac myocytes and how this localization is important for both normal electrical function of the heart and how it is altered in disease. This work is in collaboration with excellent experimental groups led by Steven Poelzing at Virginia Tech and Rengasayee Veeraragha- van at Ohio State. We are also interested in the interactions between electrical and calcium signaling in cardiac cells, in particular in the setting of heart rate variability,” he shares. “On the mechanobiology side of the lab, we are building new models and techniques to study and predict multicellular mechanical interactions in epithelial cells and how these interactions regulate signaling pathways during epitheli- al-mesenchymal transition, a key process in both normal development and pathological settings including fibrosis and cancer metastasis.” “In particular for a computational modeling lab, the most challenging aspect of our work is determining the right level of detail to include in a model,” he explains. “With many of the problems and conditions we study, there is a plethora of experimental data, ranging from the kinetics of biochemical reactions to in vivo responses to pharmacological agents. At the same time, for almost any problem we study, there is a lot of data and information about interactions that we do not know, so it is a significant challenge to determine what proteins, reactions, cell types, spatial details, etc. to include in any model and simulation.” The most rewarding part of Weinberg’s work as a biophysicist is training students, supporting them as they develop into full-fledged scientists. “I hope that one of my most significant contributions can be the training of the next generation. I am particularly motivated to promote interdisciplinary training and interactions. I firmly believe that the best solutions to scientific and biomedical challenges requires insights from people from a wide range of diverse backgrounds and training,” he says. “As the PI of a lab with a computational modeling focus within a biomedical engineering department, I encourage my students to be able to regularly talk to and discuss their work with experimental biophysicists and bioen- gineers, mathematicians, and clinicians, which can often be a challenging task.” Weinberg offers two pieces of advice to students and early career scientists: “As you transition from a trainee to inde- pendent scientist, do not be afraid to move into new research areas. Using techniques and ideas from one field and apply- ing them to a question or problem in another field can often lead to some of the most creative and innovative solutions and insights. Making a transition into a new research area is much smoother when you have strong collaborators in that

new field, and that relates to my second piece of advice: Start establishing a network of mentors and peers early in your career. You will never know which relationships lead to new opportunities and avenues in your career. One of the easiest ways to form a new professional relationship is to just talk to your fellow scientists — and include those both earlier and later in their careers, not just your immediate peers — at as many opportunities as you can find, such as conferences, poster sessions, seminars, networking mixers, etc.” He knows from experience how important those connections can be for both career development and the furtherance of your research: “I first met someone who is now one of my closest collaborators at a conference poster session about 10 years ago.”

Renew Your BPS Dues Online Don’t wait, renew your membership today to keep your member benefits through 2020. biophysics.org/ RENEW

November 2019

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Public Affairs

Biophysical Society Joins Rally for Medical Research On September 19, more than 350 organizations representing tens of millions of people across the United States joined together to

advocate on Capitol Hill for continued robust, sustained, and predictable annual funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Members of the Biophysical Society once again joined the effort and met with Members of Congress to thank them for supporting previous funding and request additional increases of at least $2.5 billion for FY 2020 for NIH. On the same day, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) announced he was recommending a $3 billion funding increase for NIH in FY 2020.

Hyun Song, BPS Member, and other Rally participants meet with Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN)

President Signs CR, Allocation Negotiations Expected to Begin

Golden Goose Awards Honor Federally Funded Scientists The Golden Goose Award was established in 2012 and officially recognizes scientists whose federally funded basic research has led to innovations or inventions that have a significant impact on humanity or society. The Biophysical Society is an annual sponsor of the event. The 2019 awardees and the funding source for their research are: The Blood of the Horseshoe Crab Jack Levin and Frederik Bang Funded by the Atomic Energy Commission, NIH, and US Public Health Service Advancing Autoimmunity Noel Rose and Ernest Witebsky Funded by NIH The Frog Skin that Saved 50 Million Lives David Sachar Funded by NIH, USAID, CDC, and US Public Health Service

The new federal fiscal year (FY) began on October 1 with a continuing resolution (CR) instead of the two-year budget that Congress has been working toward. On September 27 President Trump signed the stopgap (H.R. 4378), which extends FY 2019 funding levels through November 21 after the Senate approved the measure, 81–16, a day earlier. Senate Appropriations Chair Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) met with the President and senior White House officials on September 27 to discuss the annual spending bills, telling reporters that while their discussion did not resolve specific challenges, the President “basically said, ‘proceed’” with steps to move the process forward. Chairman Shelby also indicated his hope that the Senate Majority Leader will advance the appropriations bills that have made it through committee with support from Democrats. The Labor-HHS-Education bill is among four Senate spending bills that do not have bipartisan support. Meanwhile, appro- priations staff are expected to begin bicameral negotiations on funding allocations for the spending bills.

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Public Affairs

Gender Inequity Persists in STEM According to a study published on September 5 in Cell Stem Cell , women continue to be underrepresented among senior scientists, with no appreciable improvement over the last few years. Based on data collected in “institutional report cards” sent to research facilities worldwide, the authors found that overall, just 24 percent of tenured science, math, and en- gineering professors at the participating organizations are women, despite the fact that women comprise 57 percent of undergraduates in those fields. The four-year pilot study, part of the New York Stem Cell Foundation’s (NYSCF) Initiative on Women in Science and Engineering, surveyed institutions around the globe,

although most of the 541 institutions that submitted complete responses are in Europe or North America. The data paint a picture of steadily declining representation for women along the typical academic career path: 52 percent of gradu- ate and postgraduate students, 42 percent of assistant professors, 34 percent of associate professors, and 24 percent of full professors. Overall, 40 percent of first-time tenure-track recruits were women — but at one-third of institutions, fewer than 10 percent of those recruits were women. Of the 71 institutions that submitted data spanning two or more years, just over half modestly improved women’s rep- resentation over that timespan, while 40 percent saw small decreases in the proportion of women professors.

Meet Your BPS Ambassadors BPS is pleased to announce the inaugural class of the Ambassador Program. This program endeavors to create a global network of BPS members that will help grow the biophysics network around the globe and further develop our advocacy efforts around the world. The inaugural class consists of biophysicists from Canada, India, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Our very first team of BPS Ambassadors are:

Ambassador Program

John Baenziger University of Ottawa Canada

Olwyn Byron University of Glasgow United Kingdom

Nuno Santos, Universidade de Lisboa Portugal

Samrat Mukhopadhyay Indian Institute of Science Education India

To learn more about each of our Ambassadors, please visit the BPS Blog at https:/www.biophysics.org/blog/bps-announces-inaugural-class-of-ambassadors.

Please Consider Making a Donation

Your tax-deductible donation will help make a difference to the biophysics community. Your donation will help support travel awards, public affairs activities, and resources and programs for biophysicists. To donate,please visit www.biophysics.org/donate

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Career Development

Tips for Great Oral Presentations The goal of an oral scientific presen- tation is to convey your thoughts and sophisticated data in a logical and clear fashion. Great presentations are critical for a successful career in science and technology. They are composed of several

When delivering the presentation , stand up straight, and project your voice. Try using a microphone, laser pointer, slide advancer, or any other presentation aids beforehand. Begin by thanking the audience and the organizers who invited you to speak. Pace your- self and attempt to proceed at a rate of approximately one slide per minute. Do not read from the slides (or a manuscript), but instead talk around their content, highlighting key points. Facing the audience, maintaining eye contact with as many people as possible, and smiling create an air of intimacy and reassurance. Tomaintain the audience’s attention, speak clearly and vary the tone and inflection of your voice to show enthusiasm and energy. Do not assume that the audience is completely familiar with the topic, but also avoid patronizing them. Presentations should be entertaining, however, maintain a professional tone. Finishing up is often considered the most critical part of a talk. This is when you present and/or reiterate the primary message(s). Even though time is critical at this stage, slow down. Conclude with the take-home points and leave the slide up for an additional few seconds to give the audience a chance to reflect. Conclude by acknowledging those who assisted you, so that their contribu- tions are clear, and thank the audience. Addressing questions can feel like the most daunting part of an oral presentation. However, your knowledge of the subject will likely become clear during the question-and-answer session when the audience becomes active participants. Good, provoc- ative presentations frequently lead to a dialog. Assume the audience has listened and are interested in your research. If you are uncertain about what someone is saying, ask for the question to be rephrased. Repeating the question prior to answering can helpmaintain focus. Keep responses brief. Finally, remember to treat the floor as a stage, have fun, be proud of your work, and, importantly, embrace criticism.

elements that help successfully com- municate and disseminate your work. A plethora of resources are available online and in print, including a systematic review

of 91 articles aimed to extract expert recommendations on how to organize and deliver effective presentations. 1-5 Many of the recommendations are summarized briefly below. Be prepared. Look at the venue in person, if possible. Know the time allowed for your talk, the background of the target audience (profession, age, education), and its size. Tailor the presentation accordingly. You should establish a logical flow for your presentation where the stage is set, the story is told and, finally, the main points are clearly understood. Ideally, the take-home message(s) should persist throughout, and the audience should be able to easily recall them at a later date. Keep it simple. The most frequent advice for oral presentations is to keep slides simple and not congested with detail. Slide design should be consistent and contrasting colors used. Most experts recommend a dark background, arguing that this makes text easier to read. Limit text (number of lines and words per line) and have a maximumof three to four short points per slide to avoid exceeding the cognitive load of audience members. Use phras- es and not sentences. Don’t try and say toomuch or else main messages are often lost. Toomuchmaterial can also force you to talk too quickly, which can limit comprehension andmessage retention. Use clear and concise visual cues including diagrams, videos, or graphs to support your talking points instead of text, when possible. Their use facilitates retention and recollection of facts. Rehearse your presentation in front of at least one person, ideal- ly a research collaborator and not necessarily a peer who is likely to be less critical. This is especially important for inexperienced presenters. The more you practice, the more likely you will remain focused on the main points and adhere to the allotted time. Amend the talk according to feedback. If possible, practice in the venue itself for familiarity. Ask colleagues and seniors for ques- tions and prepare suitable responses. Record yourself practicing. Seeing what is not working during rehearsals will help break bad habits and ensure they are not repeated in front of a live audience.

1. Anholt, Robert RH. Dazzle’em with style: The art of oral scientific presentation. Elsevier, 2010.

2. Mackiewicz, Jo. Comparing PowerPoint experts’ and university students’ opinions about PowerPoint presentations. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 38.2 (2008): 149-165.

3. Bourne, Philip E. Ten simple rules for making good oral presentations. PLOS Computational Biology (2007): e77.

4. Hartigan, Lucia, Fionnuala Mone, and Mary Higgins. How to prepare and deliver an effective oral presentation. BMJ: British Medical Journal 348 (2014): g2039.

5. Blome, Christine, Hanno Sondermann, and Matthias Augustin. Accepted standards on how to give a Medical Research Presentation: a systematic review of expert opinion papers. GMS Journal for Medical Education 34.1 (2017). Numbers By the The median annual wage for biochemists and biophysicists was $93,280 in May 2018. Source: https:/www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/ biochemists-and-biophysicists.htm.

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Member Corner

Members in the News

Gregory Voth , University of Chicago, and Society member since 1996, received the S F Boys-A Rahman Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Gregory Voth

Angela Gronenborn , University of Pittsburgh, and Society member since 1996, was awarded the E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy, sponsored by the E. Bright Wilson Endowment.

Angela Gronenborn

Student Spotlight Sergei Rudnizky

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Department of Biology As you move forward in science, what type of research do you see yourself doing? Why? I plan to focus on the central problem of transcriptional regulation: How do the structure and dynamics of chromatin modulate gene expression? This is a challenging problem that I plan to address at several levels using classical biological tools and state-of-the-art single-molecule methods. I am convinced that the multi disciplinary approach should improve our understanding of how gene expression is regulated throughout development and in the susceptibility and onset of various disease states.

Sergei Rudnizky

Grants & Opportunities Understanding the Early Development of the Immune System (R01 – Clinical Trial Not Allowed) The purpose of this grant is to support studies on the very early development of the immune system and the humoral and cellular communication that exists between the mother and fetus that may shape or impact immune system development and maturation. Deadline: December 5, 2019 Website: https:/grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/ par-18-333.html

HHMI Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study The goal of this program is to increase the diversity among scientists who are prepared to assume leadership roles in science, particularly as college and university faculty. The program provides awards to pairs of graduate students and their dissertation advisers who are selected for their scientific leadership and commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the sciences. Deadline: January 3, 2020 Website: https:/www.hhmi.org/sites/default/files/g20_ announcement_091219.pdf

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Annual Meeting

Career Events Providing students with information on top-notch biophysics programs, to assisting job seekers with resume critiques, to providing networking opportunities for mid-career professionals, the 2020 Annual Meeting will feature a wide variety of career-enriching events for attendees at every career level! Sunday, February 16 The World Outside the Lab: Many Ways to Use Your PhD Skills 1:00 pm –2:30 pm Professional Development Sunday, February 16 Teaching Science Like We Do Science 2:00 pm –4:00 pm

Thank you to our sponsors: Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Bruker Corporation Burroughs Wellcome Fund Carl Zeiss Microscopy LLC Chroma Technology Dynamic Biosensors GmbH ELEMENTS SRL HORIBA Scientific Leica Microsystems LUMICKS

Careers outside of the laboratory, such as in government, industry, and academia, will be explored by panelists who will share their experiences. Consider attending this session to learn more about these fields, and to gain additional perspective on ca- reer paths away from the bench! Education and Career Opportunities Fair 1:00 pm –3:00 pm Attendees are invited to meet with repre- sentatives from educational institutions, industry companies, and government agencies. Stop by the fair to learn about open positions and talk one-on-one with representatives from participating institu- tions. Tuesday, February 18 Postdoc to Faculty Q&A: Transitions Forum and Luncheon 12:00 pm –1:30 pm Have questions regarding academic faculty positions? What does the application pro- cess include? Panelists will discuss what to expect during the interview process, as well as how to prepare the curriculum vitae. Attendance is limited to the first 60 participants, and pre-registration is required to reserve a boxed lunch.

Mad City Labs Mizar Imaging Molecular Devices

Using a variety of tools and strategies, participants will be better able to assess the response of their students, as well as implement necessary modifications to their methods of teaching. PI to PI Wine and Cheese Mixer 4:00 pm –6:00 pm Compare notes with colleagues and discuss one-on-one your unique solutions to issues that arise in the time between getting your job and getting your next promotion, including management of lab staff, getting your work published, and renewing your funding. Monday, February 17 Annual Meeting of the Student Chapters 11:00 am –1:00 pm Join BPS Student Chapters from all over the world for a poster session and workshop. Attendees will meet Student Chapter officers and representatives and learn about each chapter. The interactive workshop aims to establish chapter interactions, communica- tions, and planning for future Student Chapter Annual Meeting sessions.

Nanion Technologies Olympus America Inc Photonics Media Physics Today Sophion Bioscience A/S

Sutter Instrument Wyatt Technology

This BPSmeeting was filled with great science, but the workshops and career development sessions were a real highlight for me! Working on our personal growth is critical to becoming successful scientists in the future and I amgrateful that BPS is providing these opportunities!

—Mara Olenick

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Annual Meeting

Industry Panel 1:00 pm –2:30 pm

Special Symposia at BPS2020

Attend an interactive question-and-answer panel of professional biophysicists working in industry positions. Panelists will discuss how to find, select, and apply for positions in industry, providing attendees with useful information and resources. Speed Networking 4:30 pm –6:30 pm Networking is made simple at the Speed Networking session. Participants will be able to enjoy refreshments while connecting with biophysicists in an informal environment. Space is limited and pre-registration is recommended to ensure a spot. Register today through the BPS Annual Meeting website!

Town Hall for Community Input on the National Academies Decadal Survey of Biological Physics Sunday, February 16, 1:00 pm –2:30 pm

The NASEM will host a conversation about the current state of biophysics, future research direction, and workforce and education needs. All members of the BPS community are welcome and participation is encouraged. Scientific Societies and Grassroots Movements: What we all can do to combat sexual harassment Sunday, February 16, 6:30 pm Join us for this critically important look at the NASEM report on sexual harassment and how scientific societies, including BPS, are taking responsibility and working to ensure safe, welcoming, inclusive environments for members and attendees.

Tuesday, February 18 Funding Opportunities for Faculty at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions 12:00 pm –1:30 pm

Information regarding how PUI faculty can generate funds to support their undergraduate research laboratory will be covered in this session. Climate Change We Want to See: Mitigating Unconscious Bias in the Biophysical Professions 1:15 pm –2:45 pm

Call for New and Notable SymposiumSpeakers The Biophysical Society is seeking suggestions fromSociety members for speakers to be featured in the annual Newand Notable Symposium in San Diego. This symposium is unique in that, through a series of brief talks, attendees hear about late-breaking and exciting science. Unlike other symposia, whichwere planned at least ninemonths prior to themeeting, the NewandNotable Symposiumprogram is not finalized until December. If you have a colleaguewho should be considered, visit https:/www.surveymonkey.com/r/newnotable2020 and complete the required information fields by December 3, 2019.

Why does the same uncontrollable, subcon- scious feeling that tells us to flock to a flower and flee from an insect rear its head in our professional lives? Whether it’s instantaneous

like a microaggression or spans decades like salary disparities, it matters. We are talking about bias. We all have it and we can never escape it fully, so let’s learn how to deal with it. Heather Metcalf, PhD and Aspen Russell of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) will be presenting an hour-long work- shop on unconscious bias. In this workshop, participants will learn the history of bias, how it manifests in STEM, and lastly, how to work together to enact solutions to actively combat against it so we don’t have to wait until after the year 2100 for women in biophysics professions to finally reach parity.

biophysics.org/ 2020meeting

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BPSCareer Center Schedule Career development workshops and resume critiques will be available in the Career Center fromSaturday, February 15 through Tuesday, February 18. Andrew Green , Alaina Levine , and Brian Getson will lead workshops throughout the meeting and will also provide one-on-one career counseling. Registration is required for the limited number of one-on-one career counseling sessions. Please sign up for these appoint- ments onsite at the meeting beginning Saturday afternoon, February 15. These signups are on a first-come, first-served basis, one session per person. Please come prepared to your appointment with resumes, CVs, and any other appropriate materials. Registration is not required for the workshops, but please show up on time! Saturday, February 15 3:00 pm –4:00 pm Leveraging LinkedIn in the PhD Job Search: Networking, Informational Interviews, and more ( Andrew Green )

Attendees at a career development workhop in the Career Center.

Monday, February 17 10:00 am –11:00 am

Demystifying the Academic Job Search II: Preparing your Written Application Materials: CV, Cover Letter, and Research Statement ( Andrew Green ) Networking for Nerds: How to Create Your Unicorn Career ( Alaina Levine ) Translating Your Credentials: Writing Effective Resumes + Cover Letters and Your LinkedIn Profile ( Andrew Green ) Marketing Your Value: Crafting Your Elevator Pitch/30-Second Value Statement/Brand Statement ( Alaina Levine )

One-on-One Resume and Career Counseling: 1:00 pm –2:40 pm | 4:30 pm –5:30 pm Sunday, February 16 9:00 am –10:00 am

11:30 am –12:30 pm

2:30 pm –3:30 pm

Networking for Nerds: How to Create Your Unicorn Career ( Alaina Levine ) Green Cards for Scientific Researchers: How to win your EB- 1A/NIW Case! with Getson & Schatz, PC ( Brian Getson ) Demystifying the Academic Job Search I: Understanding the Search Process from the Perspective of Search Committees and Decoding Job Announcements ( Andrew Green ) The Industry Interview: What You Need to Do Before, During, and After to Get the Job ( Alaina Levine ) Nailing the Job Talk, or Erudition Ain’t Enough ( Andrew Green )

10:30 am –11:30 am

4:00 pm –5:00 pm

12:00 pm –1:00 pm

One-on-One Resume and Career Counseling: 8:30 am –10:00 am | 11:30 am –12:30 pm | 2:00 pm –5:20 pm Tuesday, February 18 9:30 am –10:30 am

2:30 pm –3:30 pm

Looking Beyond Academia: Identifying Your Career Options using MyIDP, LinkedIn and More ( Andrew Green ) Negotiation for Nerds: Negotiation Strategies and Tactics and Evaluating a Job Offer ( Alaina Levine ) Going Live: Preparing for Interviews in Industry and Academia ( Andrew Green )

4:00 pm –5:00 pm

11:30 am –12:30 pm

One-on-One Resume and Career Counseling: 8:30 am –1:00 pm | 2:30 pm –6:00 pm

2:30 pm –3:30 pm

One-on-One Resume and Career Counseling: 8:00 am –9:00 am | 9:00 am –12:00 pm | 1:30 pm –5:00 pm

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Subgroup Symposia at the BPS Annual Meeting NEW for 2020 – To accommodate our growing number of Subgroups, we have implemented an alternating rotation of morning and afternoon sessions . This will allow you to attend multiple sessions during Subgroup Saturday and will allow the Society to fairly accommodate all research areas. For the 2020 Annual meeting, the Subgroup Symposia are scheduled with the following time slots (morning and afternoon sessions will flip for the 2021 meeting):

Morning Sessions (8:30 am –12:30 pm ): Bioenergetics, Mitochondria & Metabolism Biopolymers in vivo Channels, Receptors & Transport Mechanobiology Membrane Fusion, Fission & Traffic Nanoscale Approaches Physical Cell Biology

Afternoon Sessions (1:30 pm –5:30 pm ): Bioengineering Biological Fluorescence Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Macromolecular Machines & Assemblies Membrane Structure & Function Membrane Transport Motility & Cytoskeleton (Part 1)

Evening Sessions (6:00 pm –10:00 pm ): Cryo-EM Motility & Cytoskeleton (Part 2)

Bioenergetics, Mitochondria, and Metabolism Subgroup Co-Chairs: Karin Busch , University of Münster, Germany and Tatiana K. Rostovtseva , NIH, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 2020 Program Co-Chairs: Brian O’Rourke , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA and Evgeny Pavlov , New York University, USA Symposium Title: Mitochondrial Ion Channels Speakers: Diego De Stefani , University of Padova, Italy ATP-sensitive Channels in the Inner Mitochondrial Membrane Structural and Pharmacological Characterization of Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore: A Megachannel Formed by F1FO- ATP Synthase Shey-Shing Sheu , Thomas Jefferson University, USA Distinctive Characteristics and Functions of Multiple Ca2 + Channels in Cardiac Mitochondria Harpreet Singh , Ohio State University, College of Medicine, USA Mitochondrial Chloride Intracellular Channels in Cardioprotection Steven J. Sollott , NIH, National Institute on Aging, USA K +- and H +- Fluxes Drive ATP Synthesis in Mammalian ATP Synthase Jason Karch , Baylor College of Medicine, USA Genetic Inhibition of the Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore Nelli Mnatsakanyan , Yale School of Medicine, USA

Bioengineering Subgroup Chair: Raphael C. Lee , University of Chicago, USA Speakers: Yasser Aboelkassem , University of California, San Diego, USA A Stochastic Multiscale Model of Cardiac Muscle Biophysics using Brownian-Langevin Dynamics Andrew D. McCulloch , University of California, San Diego, USA Multi-Scale Modeling of Therapeutic Mechanisms for Heart Failure Taher Saif , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA An in vitro 3D Neuro Muscular Platform Reveals Crosstalk Between Neural Networks and Muscles Zuzanna S. Siwy , University of California, Irvine, USA Nanopores and Channels for Biomimetics and Biomedical Engineering John P. Wikswo , Vanderbilt University, USA Multi-Omics and Automated Microfluidic Pumps and Valves for Controlling and Reverse Engineering of Biological Systems H. Steven Wiley , Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA Modulating Cell Protein Abundance to Both Understand and Manipulate Biological Networks Biological Fluorescence Subgroup Chair: Diane S. Lidke , University of New Mexico, USA Speakers: Diego Krapf , Colorado State University, USA Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Membrane Receptors at the Nanoscale

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Speakers Radu Aricescu , MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom The Structural Pharmacology of Human GABAA Receptors Sudha Chakrapani , Case Western Reserve University, USA Gating Mechanisms in Pentameric Ligand-gated Ion Channels Richard Hite , Sloan Kettering Institute, USA Structures of the Non-Canonical Lysosomal K + channel TMEM175 Vera Moiseenkova-Bell , University of Pennsylvania, USA Molecular Mechanisms of TRPV Channels Gating Revealed by Cryo-EM Non-Domain-Swapped Voltage Dependent Channels Irina I. Serysheva , University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston, USA Structural Insights into IP3R Gating and Regulation Georgios Skiniotis , Stanford University, USA Cryo-EM of GPCRs: from Molecular Mechanism to Drug Discovery Cryo-EM Subgroup Chair: Elizabeth Villa , University of California, San Diego, USA 2020 Program Co-Chairs: Elizabeth Kellogg , Cornell Univer- sity, USA and Melanie Ohi , University of Michigan Medical School, USA Symposium Title: Cryo-Electron Microscopy: From Atoms to Cells and Beyond Speakers Christopher Barnes , California Institute of Technology, USA Structures of HIV-1 Envelope Trimers Define Antibody-Mediated Neutralization of HIV-1 Ariane Briegel , Leiden University, Netherlands Cryo-Electron Tomography Contributes to Our Understanding of Bacterial Interactions with Their Environment Bridget Carragher , Columbia University Cryo-EM Automation: Better, Faster, Cheaper David DeRosier , Brandeis University Where in the Cell is My Protein? Nikolaus Grigorieff , HHMI Janelia Research Campus, USA Identification and Localization of Macromolecular Complexes in Cells by High-Resolution Template Matching Vignesh Kasinath , University of California, Berkeley, USA Eduardo Perozo , University of Chicago, USA Mechanisms of Electromechanical Coupling in

Sandrine Lévêque-Fort , CNRS, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, Université Paris-Sud, France Playing with Fluorescence Emission for Enhanced Superresolution Microscopy Satyajit Mayor , National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India Exploring the Skin of a Cell Using Fluorescence Microscopy Reveals an Active Membrane Composite George Harold Patterson , NIH, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, USA Photoswitching FRET Studies of Doxorubicin-Chromatin Interactions Angelika Rück , University of Ulm, Germany Metabolic FLIM and Oxygen PLIM: Basics and Biomedical Applications Biopolymers in Vivo Subgroup Chair: Zaida Luthey-Schulten , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA 2020 Program Co-Chairs: Lynette Cegelski , Stanford University, USA & Kendra Frederick , University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, USA Speakers Wolfgang Baumeister , Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany Structural Biology ‘in situ’: The Promise and Challenges of Cryo-Electron Tomography Silvia Cavagnero , University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA Role of the Ribosome in Protein Folding and Aggregation Melinda Duer , University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Heavy Mice and Lighter Things: Using Solid-State NMR to Study the Extracellular Matrix Shana Elbaum-Garfinkle , City University of New York, USA Emergent Material Properties of Biopolymer Condensates Ramon Grima , University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Detailed Mathematical Models of Stochastic Gene Expression in Eukaryotic Cells Channels, Receptors, and Transporters (formerly Membrane Biophysics) Subgroup Chair: Crina Nimigean , Weill Cornell Medicine, USA Symposium Title: Ion Channel and Receptor Pharmacology: Insights from Correlating Cryo-EM Structures with Functional Data

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