Biophysical Society Bulletin | September 2019

Thematic Meeting

Revisiting the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology at the Single-Molecule Level Lima, Peru | July 18–21, 2019

Some of the leading scientists in single-molecule biophysics are originally fromSouth America, and have trained (and continue training) other South American biophysicists in their USA-based laboratories. Many of these trainees now lead their own labora- tories in different parts of the world. Noteworthy, ten years ago, the first laboratory in Latin America devoted to single-molecule biophysics was installed in Peru, and a few years later a second laboratory was installed in Chile, both thanks to the support of Carlos Bustamante fromUniversity of California Berkeley. To- gether, these events have contributed to build a small but active community of South American single-molecule biophysicists, which continues to grow and obtain international relevance while establishing solid collaboration networks between the northern and southern hemispheres. A product of this collaboration is the Biophysical Society Themat- ic Meeting that took place July 18-21 in Lima, Peru, which was organized on the initiative of a group of Peruvian biophysicists some of them residing in the USA, together with scientists from Argentina, Chile, and the USA. This event took place at Universi- dad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) with support fromCONCY- TEC, INS, ONI, ZEISS, IUBMB, Beckman Coulter, Lumicks, Chroma, Chilean Society of Biochemistry and ACS. The National Science Foundation provided travel grants for USA-based researchers, while IUPAB supported the attendance of South American stu- dents from the POSLATAMprogram. This meeting covered recent discoveries produced by single-molecule tools in DNA replication, transcription, translation, protein folding/degradation, and other processes associated to the central dogma of molecular biology. The 121 attendees to this conference enjoyed 32 lectures, 60 posters ( Biophysical Journal sponsored 4 poster awards), and 17 flash talks, bringing together well-recognized scientists of the global single-molecule community and experts from related

fields—theoreticians, computational biologists, fluorophore/dye chemists. This marked diversity of fields and nationalities (16 countries) contributed to establish a truly international multidisci- plinary and inspiring environment. In addition, the attendees en- joyed social and cultural activities that Lima offers as the gastro- nomic capital of Latin America, and the world-heritage sites from pre-Columbian, Inka empire, and Spanish colonial eras located in multiple parts of the city. As part of the meeting two social events encouraged the participants tomeet researchers fromdifferent parts of the globe while enjoying Peruvian food, pisco sours, folk- loric dances, and a nice view of the Pacific Ocean. This event—which is the first of its type to be held in Latin America—showed that the global single-molecule community is as vibrant as ever, and demonstrated that Peru and neighboring countries are ideal places (for scientific and touristic reasons) to host and organize these meetings at the highest level. For many of the attendees this was their first time in Latin America, and they were very impressed by the quality of the organization and the scientific program. Because of the unexpected success and attention of this BPS Thematic Meeting in Lima, the organizing committee* has plans to replicate it every two years in different parts of South America. In fact, plans are underway for a future meeting in Argentina, Chile, or Peru in 2021. * Carlos Bustamante (University of California at Berkeley, USA); Daniel Guerra (Cayetano Heredia University, Peru); Victoria Guixé (University of Chile); Rodrigo Maillard (Georgetown University, USA); Edward Málaga-Trillo (Cayetano Heredia University, Peru); Lía Pietrasanta (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina); Piere Rodri- guez-Aliaga (Stanford University, USA); Julio Valdivia (Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología, Peru); Christian A.M. Wilson (University of Chile, Chile).

September 2019

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