Biophysical Society Bulletin | September 2020

President’s Message

Support Biophysics! Submit an Abstract for the 2021 Virtual BPS Annual Meeting

A fewweeks ago, the leadership of the Biophysical Society had to make the tough decision to hold our 2021 meeting online. No one made the decision gladly, but it was already clear that large gatherings with 4,000–5,000 attendees such as the BPS Annual Meeting, would not be

And don’t forget to visit the all-day exhibits of our great vendors! There will be online instrumentation demos, question-and-answer sessions, and more. One aspect of the virtual meeting that we carefully considered was access. BPS is an international society, and all sessions will be recorded so that any attendee anywhere in the world can watch the talks of most interest to themwhenever it is conve- nient. Moreover, chat rooms and messaging will be available to ask questions to the speakers off-line. Likewise, poster sessions will be live, but posters will be available for viewing at any time. Finally, since not every event could be accommodated during Annual Meeting week, we’ll be offering additional programming throughout the year. Workshops are very popular with BPS members, tinkerers all, and will be held online during Biophysics Week in March. They will be open to BPS members and will be recorded so they can be viewed at any time in the future as well. Additional career panels and virtual programming from several of our Committees will also be organized throughout the year for BPS members. Along these lines, look for the upcoming fall BPS Symposium on the Biophysics of SARS-CoV-2. Like all organizations, BPS is managing numerous effects of the pandemic, including shifting the Annual Meeting from Boston to a virtual platform. It is more important than ever that we all stay connected, and it is all the more important this year that each of you renew your membership in the Society and attend the Annual Meeting . We have reduced meeting registration fees for BPS members substantially and suggest that PIs, consider “bringing” your entire group to the meeting since there will be no travel, housing, or meal costs to cover! This is a good opportunity for many more of our international members to attend, as it is not always easy or financially possible, even in normal times, to travel so far for a few days. These have been trying times for all of us. Beating this pandem- ic will require that nations all over the world support and listen to scientists. I am convinced that BPS and members of our profession will come through this stronger and more innovative than ever. The 2021 Annual Meeting programwill inspire all of us to do great biophysics until we can meet again in person in San Francisco in 2022. In the meantime, I hope to “see” you all online at the 2021 Annual Meeting. — Catherine A. Royer . President

Catherine A. Royer

possible by early next year. We made this difficult choice with the health of the all attendees in mind. The early decision allows us plenty of time to organize the most exciting, participatory, and enjoyable virtual meeting possible. We are identifying the online vendors who best meet our needs and discussions about the meeting program have involved the Program Committee, BPS Council, and the Subgroups. Given the size and complexity of the BPS Annual Meeting, it was not conceivable to simply move the entire meeting online. In building the virtual program, our goals were to highlight the newest, most exciting biophys- ics, ensure participation of student and early career members, provide means for person-to-person interactions, serve the BPS communities that make up our Subgroups, and include career building and networking opportunities. Below is an outline of how the meeting will be organized. First, the meeting will be held Monday through Friday, February 22–26, 2021 (rather than beginning on Saturday and ending Wednesday). We will kick it off with Subgroup Monday, featur- ing 16 concurrent Subgroup sessions. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm EST , three symposia featuring new, exciting biophysics will kick off each days’ events. These are the Future of Biophysics Symposium, the New and Notable Symposium, and the Biophysical Journal Symposium, a new event featuring talks by the authors of recent exciting papers in Biophysical Journal . In parallel with these symposia, scientific platform sessions will be held and will feature one keynote speaker and four shorter talks chosen from submitted abstracts by the Program Committee. On Friday, the President’s Symposium on Minority Participation in Biophysics and the BPS Lecture by Eva Nogales, will headline events for the final day of the meeting. Tuesday through Friday afternoons will feature a combination of scientific sessions and networking events as well as poster sessions. Networking sessions will include Bio- physics Careers in Industry, a panel about funding opportunities and strategies, a Meet the Editors session to promote interac- tions with the editorial leadership of the Society, and a Public Affairs session.

September 2020

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