Biophysical Society Bulletin | September 2025

September 2025

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY

2025 Election Results The Biophysical Society members elected Enrique M. De La Cruz , Yale University, USA, to the office of President-Elect in this year’s elections. He will assume that office during the 2026 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in San Francisco in February 2026. He will begin his term as President in February 2027. Members elected to Council are Robert B. Best , NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, USA; Timothy D. Craggs , Exciting Instruments, Ltd. and University of Sheffield, United Kingdom; Kandice Levental , University of Virginia, USA; and Tanja Mittag , St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, USA. Each will serve a three-year term beginning in February 2026. The Society is indebted to all the excellent candidates who agreed to run for these positions. Thank you to all members who participated in the election by voting.

Enrique M. De La Cruz

Robert B. Best

Timothy D. Craggs

Kandice Levental

Tanja Mittag

Get Involved. To learn more about the different opportunities, please visit www.biophysics.org/get-involved. BPS Family Care Grant Don’t miss out! Apply for up to $500 to offset the cost of family care at the 2026 Annual Meeting. Applications accepted through Friday, November 7. www.biophysics.org/awards-funding/family-care-grant

Inside President’s Message Biophysicist in Profile

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Meetings

Stay Connected with BPS

Member Corner Communities In Memoriam Important Dates

Public Affairs Publications

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Career Development

Annual Meeting

President’s Message

See You in San Francisco! I am very much looking forward to learning and sharing great science

Becoming more frequent and effective communicators of the value of science is an important investment in the future of science, people, and the planet. In these challenging times, we hope that the BPS Annual Meeting will provide a welcome breath of fresh air, where we can focus on the excitement and promise of the science we do, as well as reconnecting and making new connections with the vibrant BPS community. In recognition of the financial challenges many are facing, BPS has significantly expanded our Bridging Funds: • We encourage BPS members facing financial hardship to apply for Bridging Funds, to enable them to attend the Annual Meeting (biophysics.org/2026meeting/ awards-competitions/travel-awards); and • We encourage BPS members who are able to donate and thus expand the Bridging Funds available to help mem bers attend the Annual Meeting and stay connected to BPS science and community (biophysics.org/donate). We also want to reassure international members about travel to the United States. In July, our Program Co-Chair, Ariane Briegel , traveled from France to the United States for a conference and reported, “Entry to the US was easy. I was a bit nervous about traveling to the US, but it wasn’t a prob lem at all. Border agents were friendly and efficient. I have no worries about coming to the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in February!” Contacts at the Protein Society report ed no problems for attendees entering the country for their summer meeting, and nearly half of the participants at the recent BPS Thematic Meeting in Estes Park, Colorado traveled from outside the United States with no entry issues. As recent experiences have been overwhelmingly positive, I truly hope international members will feel reassured and inspired to attend the meeting in support of science at this critical time. If you need an invitation letter to help obtain a visa, we’ve made them available online at www.biophysics.org/2026meeting/ hotel-travel/invitation-letter-requests, and we recommend that you apply for your visa as early as possible. Finally, I would like to acknowledge that this is a difficult time for trainees to be launching their careers. We hope you will join us in San Francisco to take advantage of the many BPS meeting opportunities for networking and mentoring. We are also excited to announce that this year’s BPS Lecturer, Lewis Kay, will have an informal session on Tuesday afternoon to talk with trainees about career options and navigating challenges along the way. Supporting the next generation of scientists is very important to all of us! For great science, science communication, and mentoring, submit your abstracts by October 1, and see you in San Fran cisco! — Lynmarie K. Thompson , President

and reconnecting with the BPS community in San Francisco at our 2026 Annual Meeting, February 21–25! The Program Co-Chairs and Program Committee have assembled a wonderful array of Symposia and Workshops (biophysics.org/2026meeting/ program/scientific-sessions). These incorporate many mem

Lynmarie K. Thompson

ber-proposed sessions, with speakers covering a broad range of exciting biophysical topics. It is now up to all BPS members to do the final shaping of the program, by submitting ab stracts to present your latest advances as Posters, Platform Talks, Flash Talks, and Symp Select or Workshop Select Talks. In addition to the relatively new (since 2024) Flash and Select Talks, we also have a timely new category for abstracts: Biophysics for Sustainability. These new presentation formats and categories continue to expand the opportunities for our members and the impact of our science. In addition to the array of Symposia and Workshops, on Mon day evening of the meeting, Lewis Kay will give the BPS Lec ture, “The Essentiality of Solution NMR Spectroscopy in the Post-AlphaFold Era.” This talk will take us beyond static struc tures to consider the role of dynamics in the mechanisms of the molecular machines of the cell. Thanks in part to work pioneered by Professor Kay, it is now possible to interrogate the dynamics of proteins even within very large multi-pro tein complexes. With the wealth of structures emerging from both experimental and predictive techniques, understanding the role of dynamics in large complexes is a critical frontier for biophysics. It is my hope that this talk about spins and dynamics will inspire great new science ideas as well as some great moves on the dance floor at the ever-popular BPS dessert social following the BPS Lecture! You may be wondering whether we will be able to continue the important advances of science as we face numerous changes in science policy, funding, and priorities occurring at a dizzying rate in the United States this year. In this context, the 2026 President’s Symposium, “Communicating the Value of Biophysics in a Changing World,” will seek to inspire and em power all of us to tell our stories about science and scientists to the many people in our lives. Our Symposium will feature the perspectives of science leaders in various sectors: Holden Thorp , Editor-in-Chief of Science ; Jeremy Berg , former Director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences; and Sean Decatur , President of the American Natural History Mu seum. We will also hear from biophysicists who do effective outreach work, and the Public Affairs Committee will hold a companion workshop on science communication.

September 2025

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THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY

Officers President Lynmarie K. Thompson President-Elect Karen G. Fleming Past-President Gabriela K. Popescu Secretary Teresa Giraldez Treasurer Samantha Harris Council

Support When It’s Needed Most – Donate or Apply for Funding A gap in funding shouldn’t mean missing out on the connections and opportunities that keep a career moving forward. The BPS Bridging Funds Support Program was created to help members attend the BPS Annual Meeting when they’re between positions, experiencing reduced funding, or managing unexpected challenges. How to Help:

Silvia Cavagnero Margaret Cheung Theanne Griffith Taviare Hawkins Ryota Iino Anne Kenworthy

Emmanuel Margeat Elizabeth Rhoades Renae Ryan Tamar Schlick Jing Xu Biophysical Journal Vasanthi Jayaraman Editor-in-Chief The Biophysicist Padmini Rangamani Editor-in-Chief Biophysical Reports

Now through November 7, BPS will match every donation to the Bridging Funds Program, up to $25,000 . Every gift you make will go twice as far in supporting your fellow biophysicists— doubling the impact of your support. Donate today at www.biophysics.org/DONATE How to Apply for Funding: If you’re facing a funding gap, you can apply for a US $500 Bridging Fund to help cover costs to attend the BPS Annual Meeting—so you can continue sharing your science and stay connected to the community. The application deadline is November 7, 2025. Apply today at www.biophysics.org/2026meeting/awards-competitions/travel-awards Give if you can. Apply if you need to. We’re in this together.

Jörg Enderlein Editor-in-Chief

Society Office Jennifer Pesanelli Executive Officer Newsletter

Executive Editor Jennifer Pesanelli Managing Editor John Long Production Ray Wolfe Meredith Zimmerman Proofreader/Copy Editor The Biophysical Society Newsletter (ISSN 0006-3495) is published eleven times per year, January-December, by the Biophysical Society, 6903 Rockledge Drive, Suite 540, Bethesda, Maryland 20817. Distributed to USA members and other countries at no cost. Canadian GST No. 898477062. Postmaster: Send address changes to Biophysical Society, 6903 Rockledge Drive, Suite 540, Bethesda, MD 20817. Copyright © 2025 by the Biophysical Society. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. Darren Early Laura Phelan

We’re celebrating 11 years of global connections, collaborations, and discoveries— March 23–27, 2026—and we want YOU to be part of it. Now’s the time to start planning your Affiliate Event—whether it’s a seminar, outreach activity, panel discussion, or virtual lab tour. Every event helps promote the field and inspire the next generation. Start your planning now and register your Affiliate Event to receive marketing support. www.biophysics.org/outreach/biophysics-week/be-an-affiliate-event-organizer

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Biophysicist in Profile

Pablo Peixoto Area of Research Mitochondrial signaling, with a focus on channels

Institution Baruch College, City University of New York

At-a-Glance

In the bustling kitchen of his childhood home in Brazil, while his single mother rushed to prepare meals for four children before work, young Pablo Peixoto bombarded her with an endless stream of questions. “I was that annoying kid who wouldn’t stop asking ‘what?,’ ‘why?,’ and ‘how?,’” he recalls. This insatiable curiosity extended from the kitchen to the classroom, where he peppered teachers and peers with questions during lessons or presentations, and has since carried him through to his career as a biophysicist. “I stopped asking why, but I kept asking what and how.”

Pablo Peixoto

Pablo Peixoto ’s journey began far from the ivory towers of ac ademia. His childhood was spent moving around Brazil, from a shanty home in Sobradinho to the outskirts of Brasília, and to Rondônia in the Amazonian region, from where his mother had migrated as part of the candango wave that built Brazil’s capital. The family eventually settled in Uberlândia, where he would come of age and begin his academic journey. Peixoto was the first in his family to attend college, though he notes that he was inspired to study science by his uncle, Chico: “In another life he might have been an engineer,” Peixoto reflects. His mother cleaned houses during his childhood, later starting a business and eventually earning her high school diploma and a degree in history. She now works as an elementary school administrator. At the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Peixoto began his scientific career in an ecology and animal behavior laboratory under Kleber Del Claro , studying the complex tripartite inter actions between ants, aphids, and plants. His research focus then shifted to the honeybee brain, where he investigated myosins under the mentorship of Foued Salmen Espíndola , who would guide both his undergraduate and master’s the ses. The pivotal moment that would set him down his career path came during his senior year. When he discovered a flier from the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) advertising research internships across Spain, one opportunity stood out—not for its appeal, but for its apparent lack thereof. “I applied for the one I assumed no one else would want: Mitochondrial Electrophysiology at the Universidad de Extremadura in Cáceres,” he explains. “I thought the title sounded intimidating and that people would rather pick Barcelona, Madrid, Salamanca, or Seville.” This calculated gamble paid off spectacularly. Cáceres, as Peixoto puts it, “became my point of no return.” The internship

introduced him to the fascinating world of mitochondrial elec trophysiology and to Marisa Campo , whom he fondly refers to as one of his two “scientific mothers.” After briefly return ing to Brazil to complete his master’s degree, he secured a CAPES-Humboldt Research Fellowship to return to Cáceres for his PhD under Campo’s guidance. His doctoral work established him as an expert in patch-clamping mitochondria, a rare and technically demand ing skill that would prove invaluable throughout his career. This expertise caught the attention of Casey Kinnally at the New York University College of Dentistry, who would become his second “scientific mother.” Despite not having published his thesis work at the time, Kinnally recognized Peixoto’s potential and recruited him for postdoctoral research. “It was serendipity,” Peixoto says of his entry into mitochon drial biophysics. “That AECID internship opened the door, but I stayed because Marisa and Casey saw something in me and nurtured it. I became a mitochondriac and never looked back.” The term “mitochondriac”—a playful portmanteau of mito chondria and maniac—perfectly captures Peixoto’s enthusi asm for these cellular powerhouses. In Kinnally’s lab, Peixoto dove into cancer research, studying how mitochondria release apoptotic signals and how this crucial process fails in malignant cells. “At the time, I had not yet published a paper from my thesis, but I had a rare techni cal skill and she gave me a chance to prove myself,” he recalls. That chance paid dividends: Five years and twelve papers later, he had established himself as a formidable researcher and moved to a new postdoc position in Giovanni Manfredi ’s laboratory at Weill Cornell, where he expanded his expertise from electrophysiology into metabolism. “Giovanni brought me in for patch clamping, but I left with a solid foundation in metabolism, thanks to working closely with Anatoly Starkov and others in the lab,” he notes.

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Biophysicist in Profile

Today, Peixoto serves as an associate professor of biology in the Department of Natural Sciences at Baruch College, City University of New York—“It’s a mouthful, and I love it, just like my full name: Pablo Marco Veras Peixoto,” he quips. Peixoto’s current research sits at the intersection of cellular biophysics and neuroscience. His lab studies mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide signaling in synaptic function and plastici ty, work that has yielded surprising insights into how neurons communicate and adapt. “We recently showed that mito chondrial H₂O₂ is released during normal synaptic activity and that high-frequency stimulation enhances its release to drive plasticity,” he describes. Using an optogenetic fly model, his team demonstrated that simply turning on H₂O₂ release from presynaptic mitochondria was sufficient to induce plasticity without stimulation. Like many scientists, Peixoto has faced times of doubt and adversity. “I’ve had moments when I questioned my path or felt everything was at risk,” he reveals. “Some of these chal lenges were acute, others accumulated over time.” Although he developed resilience through these trials, the most signif icant challenge came after achieving a major milestone: ten ure. “I had reached the goal I had chased for years, but I was still overworked, anxious, and running on empty,” he reflects. A series of anxiety attacks forced him to confront a pattern he had maintained throughout his career: “I realized I had spent my life focused on the next milestone—graduation, PhD, postdoc, job, tenure, grants—and had neglected my well- being.” With support from his doctor, therapist, husband, and friends, he began to understand that “well-being, like science, requires sustained attention and care.” When asked about the most rewarding aspect of his work, he recounts receiving a photo from Ma Su Su Aung , a former student, at her neurology fellowship graduation. “I replied with one from her college graduation,” he says. “Seeing what students go on to achieve, and knowing I played a small part in their journey, makes this the best job in the world.”

Peixoto sees exciting developments ahead for biophysics, noting that “some people are now using it to tackle deeply subjective questions like consciousness.” In his own research area, he’s eager to measure emerging and unknown mito chondrial signals in real time during neuronal firing. “There are huge technical hurdles, but the questions are ripe,” he asserts. Throughout his career, BPS has been his home society, offer ing support and community at each stage. “I say I ‘grew up’ in the Society, and I mean it. I work at a primarily undergraduate institution with a small but growing research footprint,” he shares. “Being part of BPS helps me think big. It keeps me connected, engaged, and inspired, and it’s been a place where my students find the same support I did back in 2004.” Asked what he finds special about the Biophysical Society, Peixoto offers, “The Subgroups have my heart, especially Bioenergetics, Mitochondria, and Metabolism. I also love the SoBLA [Sociedad de Biofísicos Latinamericanos] meetings, which happen late on Tuesday nights at the Annual Meeting and often include Society leadership showing up to support Latin American biophysicists.” Outside the laboratory, Peixoto maintains a rich life that in cludes reading science fiction and nonfiction, practicing yoga, spending time in psychoanalysis, scuba diving, rock climb ing, and attending the opera. This diverse array of interests speaks to the same curiosity that drove him to science. For young scientists entering the field, Peixoto’s advice is characteristically direct and encouraging: “Join a committee, a Subgroup, Black in Biophysics, SoBLA, student chapters. Go to the microphone. Ask the question.” It’s advice that reflects his own journey from that curious child asking endless questions in his mother’s kitchen to a respected researcher unraveling the mysteries of cellular communication.

Submit your paper.

cell.com/biophysreports

September 2025

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Applications Are Open for the Biophysical Society 2025–2026 Congressional Fellowship Interested in using your science skills to inform science policy? Does spending a year working on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, helping develop policy sound exciting? The Biophysical Society’s Congressional Fellowship program (www.biophysics. org/policy-advocacy/congressional-fellowship) is your opportunity to participate directly in the process of lawmaking that impacts how research is funded and regulated. This year-long opportunity provides Fellows a chance to utilize their science knowledge to inform the public policy process. Fellows will gain firsthand knowledge and experience on how Congress works and participate in the esteemed AAAS Science and Technology Fellows program that provides ongoing training and networking opportunities during the fellowship year and beyond. Visit www.biophysics.org/policy-advocacy/congressio nal-fellowship for more details about the program or contact Leann Fox at fellows@biophysics.org or (240) 290-5606. The application deadline is December 12, 2025.

US Congress and White House Continue Tug of War over NIH When the President’s Budget Request was released in May, it sent major shockwaves through the scientific community, with budgets being slashed for federal research funding at every agency. Thus far, however, the House of Represen tatives has pushed back on those cuts to a degree with the National Science Foundation (NSF) being given a proposed budget of $7.0 billion for fiscal year 2026 (FY26) and the De partment of Energy (DOE) Office of Science getting a modest increase for a proposed budget of $8.4 billion. They have yet to act on funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), pushing that work off until their return from recess. Before leaving for the August recess period, the Senate completed work on spending bills for both the NIH, proposing a modest increase to $48.7 billion, and NSF, proposing a slight cut of $60.0 million for a total funding package of $9.0 billion; work on a DOE proposal has yet to be finalized. While the work by the Senate presents a considerable boost to scientific morale, very little time remains for both cham bers to complete work on all 12 appropriations bills and reach consensus on the gap in proposed spending.

NIH Shift in Forward Funding Grants Reduces Researcher Chances of Awards The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been rolling out its new policy of funding multi-year grants with an up-front lump sum payout, being referred to as “forward funding.” The policy thus far applies only to new awards but will be applied across the board in the future. While research agencies routinely “forward fund” grants, the approach has pros and cons, NIH policy experts say. Because less of an agency’s budget is tied up with outyear grant pay ments, it can adjust better to funding swings or new research directions. The approach can also make it easier to spend an unexpected pot of funding quickly, but it sacrifices oversight by the agency. Researchers worry that forward funding, combined with the slowed outlay of research funds this year, will significantly reduce the odds of a proposal being approved. The National Cancer Institute has already seen a sharp drop in the number of grants funded, from 1 out of every 10 to 1 in 25. NIH has already started the switch, however. Since June, it has been requiring institutes to fund half of the remaining awards in this fiscal year as multiyear awards. One hundred percent of research grants will be forward funded by fiscal year 2027.

Calling all undergrads! Applications for the Undergraduate Poster Award Competition are being accepted through January 6, 2026. Winners will be honored at the BPS Awards Ceremony. Don’t miss out! For more information, go to www.biophysics.org/2026meeting/awards-competitions/poster-competitions.

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Around the World Budget Cuts in Science, Technology, and Innovation in Mexico: A Setback for National Development By Eduardo Jardón-Valadez, BPS Ambassador, Mexico

graduate students. Furthermore, they hinder efforts to inter nationalize academic programs and recruit new faculty, thus weakening the pipeline of highly trained professionals. This trend is especially concerning given Mexico’s demo graphic advantage: a majority of the population is under 30 years old—a so-called “demographic bonus” that could serve as a foundation for strengthening the national scien tific community. Yet, current policy priorities appear to favor short-term subsidies and politically motivated infrastructure projects that exceed originally approved budgets, rather than long-term investment in education and innovation. The consequences of these decisions will become increasingly visible in the coming years: slower economic growth, limited technological advancement, and a critical shortage of highly skilled professionals. For a country seeking to transition into a knowledge-based economy, continued disinvestment in sci ence and technology is not only short-sighted but ultimately unsustainable. Advance Your Career Visit the BPS Career Center to search for open positions, upload your resume to allow employers to find you, and find resources and materials to help you with career development! biophysics-jobs.careerwebsite.com

How costly is science for emerging economies? According to the World Bank, in 2023 Mexico had only 272 researchers per million inhabitants working in research and devel opment—a figure comparable to low- to middle-income countries and significantly below the regional average of 583 for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Eduardo Jardón-Valadez

Despite this gap, the Mexican federal budget for 2025 includes a 7.4% reduction in funding for science, technology, and innovation—amounting to a cut of 2.1 billion pesos (ap proximately US$105 million) compared with the 2024 budget. This austerity measure has forced leading public institutions such as Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Uni versidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Cinvestav, El Colegio de México, and Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas to absorb losses ranging from 10% to 15% of their operational budgets. In a 10-year period from 2015 to 2025, investment in science, technology, and innovation decreased from 0.28% to 0.16% of Mexico’s GDP. These cuts directly affect the quality and accessibility of higher education and research in Mexico. They constrain the ability of institutions to support basic and applied research, organize international scientific events, foster global collab oration, and maintain scholarships for undergraduate and

The Biophysical Society is grateful to its Industry Partners.

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For Industry Partner Membership information, contact alevine@biophysics.org. SILVER

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Publications

Know the Editor Paul Schanda

Editor’s Pick

Institute of Science and Technology Austria Associate Editor Biophysical Reports

Paul Schanda

What are you currently working on that excites you? I’ve always been fascinated by how protein dynamics relate to function. In our ongoing research on a family of allosteric enzymes, we uncovered mechanistic insights beyond any thing we expected. NMR experiments revealed two co-ex isting, interconverting states in equilibrium—an equilibrium that shifts in the presence of substrates. By serendipity, we discovered an unexpected binding site that regulates this balance, suggesting entirely new mechanisms for how the enzyme binds, processes, and releases reactants. I’m constantly amazed by the complexity nature has built into proteins. Often, real insight comes only after staring at data for a long time—and some of the most exciting break throughs happen by “accident.” A key challenge is knowing when a surprising result is worth pursuing, and when it’s a dead end. There’s no formula (though I’d love to know if you have one!). I feel fortunate to work in an environment that lets me keep learning, alongside brilliant colleagues. What have you read lately that you found really interesting or stimulating? Recently, I’ve been inspired by Yuval Harari ’s latest book, Nexus , which prompted me to revisit Harari’s Sapiens . What struck me most was his idea that humanity’s greatest strength is our ability to believe in shared stories and abstract concepts. This enables extraordinary collaboration—but also fuels conflict over imagined entities like “nations.” I tend to think that science also works with storytelling—grounded in an objective truth, though, which we approach in the way humans work: with “stories” and abstract concepts.

Biophysical Reports Enhancing the applied force and range of axial optical tweezers Zheng Zhang and Joshua N. Milstein “This article presents a method for increasing the amount of force that can be applied with axial optical tweezers at reduced laser power and at greater depths than previously possible. These enhancements result from carefully consider ing both optical aberrations and nonlinearity in the signal that arises above a certain force threshold. The accuracy of this method is illustrated by exploring the well-known mechanical behavior of double-stranded DNA under increasing levels of tension. These improvements to axial optical tweezers greatly increase the utility of this novel single-molecule technique for probing biological forces.” Version of Record Published June 16, 2025 DOI: https:/doi.org/10.1016/j.bpr.2025.100219

43,000 times in 2024. Numbers By the

Biophysical Journal articles were cited in journals more than

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Publications

The Biophysicist : Innovation in Biophysics Requires Innovation in How We Educate Biophysicists

A decade ago, a BPS Travel Award changed the course of my professional life. It gave me my first chance, as a faculty member, to attend the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting. Before that, I could not afford to go; juggling a young family, learning to navigate US teaching practices, and working to build my academic capital left no room for conference travel. That experience planted a seed: advancing science is not only about discovery, it is about making knowledge creation, dissemination, and acquisition accessible to all. Today, as a novice academic administrator, this lesson drives my com mitment to building systems that open doors for the next generation of undergraduate researchers. Biophysics thrives on innovation and discovery; yet, too often, students lack access to the tools and opportunities needed to become part of that endeavor. The interdisciplinary nature of the field demands intellectual agility: students must learn to navigate multiple ways of thinking, problem solving, and approaching science. Traditional teaching models, often inher ited from single-discipline settings, struggle to prepare stu dents for this challenge. As a result, many talented students risk being left behind. To address these shortcomings, we need deliberate, evi dence-based approaches to teaching and mentoring. The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in biophysics brings the same rigor we value in biophysics research to questions about how students learn; how they engage with complex, interdisciplinary problems; and how research expe riences shape their growth. Studies in SoTL generate evidence that can improve curriculum design, guide mentoring practic es, and strengthen research training, ensuring that students not only learn biophysics concepts but also that they develop the habits of mind and scientific practices that define bio physics as a discipline. Our community faces important questions that dedicated SoTL in biophysics can answer. Among them: • How is learning biophysics distinct from learning physics, math, chemistry, or biology? • How does learning biophysics progress from K–12 through graduate school? • How can emerging digital technologies, including genera tive AI, enhance teaching and learning in biophysics? • What evidence-based approaches can make active learn ing effective for students with varied backgrounds while ensuring that these strategies are practical and sustain able for instructors? • What frameworks or approaches can help practitioners adapt SoTL outcomes to diverse classroom realities, recognizing that teaching and learning are context- dependent social processes?

Addressing these questions does not mean every biophysicist must become an education researcher. Our field advances most effectively when those with interest, bandwidth, skills, and/or institutional support contribute strategically to this body of work. Their efforts, when shared, become a collec tive resource that benefits far more students than any single classroom or lab can reach. This is where BPS’s The Biophysicist journal plays a pivotal role. Publishing contributions on innovative teaching practic es, curricular development, mentoring studies, and education research gives others tools to build on proven approaches rather than starting from scratch. Each published study or case report adds to a growing library of methods, frame works, and insights that collectively strengthen biophysics education. Establishing The Biophysicist was an important step toward building the infrastructure needed to support SoTL in biophys ics. Publications are only one part of what is needed. We also need professional development opportunities, communities of practice, and recognition and reward systems that make these contributions visible and valued. With these supports in place, engaging in SoTL becomes less of an isolated effort and more of a collective enterprise. Even those who do not direct ly conduct education research gain access to resources they can adapt, creating a stronger, more connected ecosystem for training the next generation of biophysicists. The vitality of biophysics depends not only on groundbreaking discoveries but also on how well we prepare future scientists for the complex, interdisciplinary challenges ahead. By gen erating evidence, resources, and strategies for teaching and mentoring, SoTL creates pathways for students who might otherwise be excluded from our field. When some of us con tribute this knowledge, the benefits ripple outward, shaping the future of biophysics itself. The invitation is clear: if you have the capacity to engage in education scholarship, your work can help shape the future of biophysics. Platforms like The Biophysicist ensure that no one has to do this alone. Together, we can create a stron ger, more connected, and more sustainable foundation for educating current students and future scientists, ensuring that every learner has a fair chance to thrive in our discipline. At the same time, this vision raises important questions for our community: How should education scholarship be valued in the biophysics community? What responsibilities do we collectively bear for expanding access to opportunities in biophysics? How do we balance innovative teaching with the realities of faculty workload? These are debates worth having if we are serious about building a field where no potential biophysicist is left without a path into our community. — Patricia Soto , Associate Editor, The Biophysicist

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Publications

Melanie Cocco To Lead Biophysical Reports Melanie Cocco of the University of California, Irvine has been appoint ed to be the second Editor-in-Chief of Biophysical Reports , BPS’s

high-impact research, foster scientific integrity, and highlight the diversity of approaches in advancing our understanding of biological systems.” She added, “As the newest journal of the Biophysical Society, Biophysical Reports plays a vital role in advancing and disseminating high-quality short reports and innovative research in biophysics. I am excited to work with the editorial team, authors, and reviewers to uphold its mission.” Reflecting on the journal’s rise and the transition to new lead ership, Enderlein shares, “As the journal’s first Editor-in-Chief, I was exceptionally fortunate to assemble a highly competent, engaged, and enthusiastic board of editors, without whom this entire endeavor would never have been successful. Now, five years later, I am proud to see a flourishing journal with excellent manuscripts and an Impact Factor of 2.7. I am very happy to hand the torch over to the next Editor-in-Chief, Melanie Cocco, who I am absolutely certain will lead the journal to new heights and successes. For me, organizing the first five years of this journal has been an extremely exciting and rewarding enterprise, and I am confident that Biophysi cal Reports is in the best possible hands with Melanie as my successor.” With Cocco’s long record of service to the Biophysical Society and commitment to mentoring the next generation of scien tists, she is poised to lead Biophysical Reports into an exciting new chapter. Her five-year term will begin on January 1, 2026. Era.” The week’s events will explore how AI could be used in a positive way to make peer review faster and more efficient, but also how it can be used carelessly or maliciously to create unreliable or misleading papers, figures, or reviews. They will address questions including what ethical guidelines should be in place with regard to AI in peer review, what training reviewers might need to use AI tools responsibly, and which elements of peer review must be carried out by humans with out AI? The scientific community should be thinking about the possibilities and pitfalls associated with this new technology, and this is an excellent chance to start those conversations. BPS understands the great contribution that peer reviewers make to the publication of cutting-edge research in our Soci ety’s journals, and we thank them! Peer review is one of the many ways that the biophysics community comes together to allow the Society to achieve its goal of sharing knowledge. For more information about the activities that are part of Peer Review Week, which are open to everyone, go to https:/peer reviewweek.net. You can share and follow on social media by using hashtags #PeerReviewWeek and #PRW2025.

high-quality, forward-looking gold open access journal that published its first articles in 2021. Cocco is one of the Associate Editors who has served on the editorial board since the journal was launched. The journal’s current and first Edi tor-in-Chief, Jörg Enderlein of Third Institute of Physics – Biophysics,

Melanie Cocco

Georg August University, led the journal through its first five years to establish it as a respected all-open access option for the Biophysical Society’s publications program. The journal publishes articles in all areas of biophysics, emphasizing rapid publication and making it easier for specialists and generalists to share new insights into experimental data or new technol ogies and methodologies. “I am deeply honored to be appointed Editor-in-Chief of Biophysical Reports at a time when the field of biophysics is evolving rapidly and intersects with many areas of science,” said Cocco. “I would like to recognize the hard work that the founding editor, Jörg Enderlein, invested in establishing this journal. My vision is to ensure that Biophysical Reports main tains this strong initiative to become a premier platform for Peer Review Week 2025 Addresses the Possible Effects of AI

The scholarly publishing commu nity takes an opportunity each September to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution that peer review makes to the scientif ic enterprise. Peer Review Week, which will take place September

15–19, will include events and activities organized around the world, including webinars, workshops, interactive sessions, podcasts, and blog posts, that will highlight the importance of the peer review process and those who make it work. In recognition of the rapid advancement of AI and its potential to have major effects on how science is reviewed and pub lished, this year’s theme is “Rethinking Peer Review in the AI

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Career Development

Cultivating Collaborations With rapidly growing technical innovation and specialization, scientific inquiry now adays increasingly depends on expertise drawn from multiple approaches. How ever, it is likely that an investigator with expertise in molecular dynamics simu lations will not have at hand the tools of live-cell confocal imaging, and vice versa. How do investigators keep up with the overwhelming proliferation of necessary approaches without having to start at square one for each? The “secret sauce” rests in the synergy afforded by successful collab oration. Think about the most engaging presentations you’ve attended. Most, if not all, acknowledge collaborators, each contributing crit ically in pulling the final story together. Yet how do these mutually beneficial relationships even come to be? Once formed, how are they sustained? For both, a key—if not the key—element is good communication. Many collaborations grow naturally out of relationships cultivated during graduate and postdoctoral training. If you currently are fortunate enough to work in a laboratory that studies a range of distinct questions by using a broad spectrum of technical ap proaches, great! It is likely that each entails different approaches and is done primarily by a different colleague. So, take the time to learn what makes each of your labmates tick. If you train in a smaller lab, a similar approach can be taken within a department or academic unit. In addition to understanding the motivation behind studying a particular question, observe what fuels the day-to-day tasks upon which your colleagues’ projects are built. Why are they drawn to their research questions and how do they meet the challenges of tackling those questions? On the other side of the equation, it is critical to share your perspectives and amassed skills generously whenever they are sought. Aim to give as well as take. In fact, these seemingly mundane interactions reflect privi leged access to your colleagues’ talents—the ultimate resource. It is rare that one can acquire and cultivate such relationships while working in a vacuum. What you essentially are doing is learning how to think together, while at the same time building a shared history. It is important not to expect the same immediate returns from interactions with every lab (or departmental) colleague. More often than not, many will remain enigmatic. However, they might be forming mental dossiers of you as well. Through what you of fer during these interactions, you too are cultivating a reputation

that may serve you well down the long road ahead. You lay the foundations of networking, a prerequisite for collaboration. Complementary—but distinct—scientific goals are an important hallmark of synergistic collaborations. Each team member brings something to the table. Bear this in mind as you progress in your independent investigations and develop collaborative projects. Take full advantage of the communication that conference atten dance affords. Even if you did not train in the idealized research environment described up to this point, attending conferences, large and small, offers opportunity to cultivate collaboration. It is likely that you will meet former colleagues at conferences. You can always contact them beforehand, and if they will be attending, arrange a group reunion. They might be working on entirely different topics, but they will remember the overall experience of working with you during your shared past. In other words, they already know how well you think interactively with others. Be forthcoming as you fill them in on what your current projects entail, especially if there are gaps in knowledge and tech nical expertise that require collaborative work. It is quite possible that even if the particular colleague does not fit the bill, they know someone who does. Occasionally, they might be quite happy to match-make. Perhaps that potential collaborator is even attend ing the same conference, and introductions can be made readily. Like all joint ventures, collaborations require focused effort. Once a collaboration is established, the message is to communicate, communicate, and communicate! From the start, identify expec tations, establish regular meetings to discuss work in progress, and identify key literature to review in a journal club setting. These steps collectively support cultivation of the hive mind and, moreover, steer project direction. It is important as well to estab lish essential benchmarks to be met for drafting a manuscript or proposal, criteria for authorship, etc., to set collaborations off on the right foot. Most of us now appreciate that video confer encing platforms offer a good option for face-to-face meetings for routine project status updates. Even so, they are not the best substitute for team bonding. If team members are not located in the same institution and have limited opportunities to meet in person, prioritize attending at least one common scientific confer ence each year, not just to recap project status in real time and space, but also to strengthen team bonds. When developed with open communication, collaborative projects offer manifold professional and personal rewards beyond the expected generation of new knowledge. Through teamwork, collaborations bring with them the sense of accomplishment that comes with contributing to discoveries and knowledge that far exceeds the sum of its parts. And remember to have fun working and thinking together! — Molly Cule

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Annual Meeting

Present Your Research! Submitting an abstract to the BPS Annual Meeting benefits you, your lab or institution, and the biophysics community. Reach more than 6,000 researchers in biophysics from around the world. Be designated for one of the nearly 700 poster presentations held each day of the meeting or be considered for one of the more than 500 oral presentation slots in platform sessions.

Thank you to our sponsors:

Avanti Polar Lipids Bruker

Chroma Technology Leica Microsystems Nanion Technologies Sophion Bioscience A/S

Benefits to You: Professional Development. Enhance your CV as a presenting author. Publication Credit. Have your accepted ab stract published and included in a supplement to Biophysical Journal . A Visible Platform. Submitting your abstract by the October 1 deadline grants you the op portunity to be considered for one of the more than 500 oral presentation slots in platform sessions. Strategic Connections. Increase your visibility and leadership potential by meeting other leading experts from around the world. Make a Difference. Enrich the experience of attendees and contribute to the sharing of ideas that is the basis of the biophysics com munity.

Benefits to Your Lab or Institution:

Shared Knowledge. Bring the ideas and methods you learn back to your home institution, along with valuable feedback on your presented research. Increased Visibility. Gain exposure for your organization and funding institutions. New Collaborations. Find opportunities to collaborate with other labs and leading researchers. Benefits to the Biophysics Community: Industry Knowledge. Continue to build a growing body of useful, practical solutions to problems and research studies. Idea Contributions. Enrich the experience of attendees and contribute by sharing ideas.

Don’t Forget... Submit your abstract by

October 1, 2025 to engage with this vital biophysics community.

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Annual Meeting

Apply for a Poster or Travel Award

Travel Awards Looking for funding to present your research at the Annu al Meeting? BPS provides Travel Awards for members who are students, postdoctoral researchers, and scientists of all career levels to recognize excellence in biophysics and promote greater interaction among biophysicists throughout the world. Awards range in size, depending on travel distance to the Annual Meeting, up to a maximum of $750. Members from all over the world may apply, including those living in the San Francisco area. Applicants must submit their abstract by the October 1 deadline and apply for Travel Awards by October 3, 2025. For more information and to apply online for the Student Research Achievement Awards, Travel Awards, and Under graduate Poster Award Competition, visit www.biophysics. org/2026meeting/awards-competitions. Plan Ahead and Reserve Your Hotel Today! Students can secure special hotel rates. Student Housing Deadline: December 5, 2025 Regular Attendee Housing Deadline: January 30, 2026 Reserve Today at www.bpshotels.com

Student Research Achievement Awards The Student Research Achievement Award (SRAA) competi tion provides graduate students (PhD and Master level) the opportunity to present their poster to senior researchers in their field. This is an excellent opportunity for graduate students to hone their presentation skills. If you are a facul ty member, please encourage your students attending the Annual Meeting to register for the competition. In order to participate, students must submit their abstract by the October 1 deadline and apply for the SRAA Competition by October 3, 2025. Undergraduate Poster Award Competition The Undergraduate Poster Award Competition offers undergraduate students a valuable opportunity to refine their presentation skills by showcasing their research to a panel of keen judges, who are eager to recognize outstanding undergraduate work. Students are judged on the quality and scientific merit of their research, knowledge of the research problem, contribution to the project, and overall presentation of the poster. Judges look for students to present a clearly stated question, hypothesis, results, and conclusions. Applicants must apply by January 6, 2026.

JUST-B Poster Session The JUST-B (Justice for Underrepresented Scholars Training in Biophysics) Poster Session will celebrate the achievements of students, postdocs, and early career researchers in the field of biophysics. Abstracts must be submitted and the application completed by the late ab stracts submission deadline, January 6, 2026. For specific application requirements, please visit biophysics.org/ 2026meeting.

biophysics.org/ 2026meeting

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Meetings

Beyond Simple Models: The Consequences of Membrane Complexity in Living Systems

This meeting was originally conceived before the COVID pandemic and was to be held in Cordoba, Argentina, with Luis Bagatolli as a co-organizer. Sadly, our community lost Luis to pancreatic cancer while we waited for the pandemic to pass. The organizing team decided to relocate the meeting to Co penhagen and to include many of Luis’s colleagues as invited speakers in order to celebrate his foundational contributions to membrane biophysics. The speakers and attendees came from all around the world, with several from South America and others from North America, across Europe, India, and Japan. The program included 34 invited talks, 14 contributed talks, and 55 posters. There was also good diversity in terms of career stage, which occasioned many opportunities for “ac cidental mentoring”—those impromptu conversations over coffee or lunch that are so important for sharing the complex ities and nuances of academic research. The meeting organizers, Ilya Levental (University of Virginia), Ed Lyman (University of Delaware), Dimitrios Stamou (Univer sity of Copenhagen), Juan Vanegas (Oregon State University), and Sarah Veatch (University of Michigan), thank all of the par ticipants for creating a vibrant and exciting meeting. They also extend a sincere thanks to the sponsors— Biophysical Journal , Lipotype GmbH, Company of Biologists, FEBS Journal , ACS Publications, and EMBO—and to the University of Copenha gen for providing the venue.

Copenhagen, Denmark, July 7–10, 2025 Over the last fifteen years, lipidomics technologies have re vealed that the collections of lipids in cellular membranes are diverse in their chemistry and tightly regulated. These discov eries have opened many new questions in membrane biology and biophysics. Why do cells choose a particular complement of lipids for a particular membrane? How are the lipid identi ties of different membranes in a eukaryotic cell established and maintained? How do the chemistry and interactions of a complex lipidome conspire to produce the functional biophys ical properties of a membrane? To address these questions, ~120 participants gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark on the campus of the University of Copenhagen for a four-day, in-depth set of presentations and discussions. Because membranes sit at the intersection of chemistry, biophysics, and cell biology, the invited speakers included expertise from across these fields, spanning theory, model membranes, synthetic and minimal cells, and micro bial and eukaryotic cell biology. A particular emphasis of the simulation and modeling aspects supplemented molecular dynamics with cutting-edge continuum methods for under standing membrane mechanics. Another important idea that emerged is that even compositionally “simple” membranes are biophysically complex, with many mysteries remaining.

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