LS2 Section Biophysics
founded in November 2019former Swiss Biophysical Society
Biophysics: Unraveling the quantitative nature of biology
Modern biology is driven by the combination of several critical technologies: Elaborate in vitro reconstitutions of biomolecular systems, an ever increasing arsenal of methodologies to perform dynamic, quantitative and structural studies not only in vitro but up to live cells and entire organisms, as well as the theoretical synthesis of the resulting data towards molecular and even system-wide modeling. The field of Biophysics encompasses the development and application of experimental and theoretical methodologies with molecular resolution from single-molecules to whole organisms. In recent years, biophysics and structural biology have been at the forefront of scientific progress, with novel developments in cryo electron-microscopy (Nobel Prize 2017 for Jacques Dubochet, UNIL, and colleagues) and single-molecule and super-resolution imaging (Nobel Prize 2014 for Stefan W. Hell and colleagues).
Switzerland has a long tradition for biophysics and structural biology and the Swiss Universities host a vibrant community of research groups working on different aspects of biophysical research. With the founding of a new LS2 section in Biophysics, we aim to provide new avenues for networking, knowledge transfer and intellectual exchange for biophysicists and researchers working in related fields in Switzerland.
The LS2 section will elevate the profile of Biophysics in Switzerland. The first event is a Biophysics symposium at the FEBS3+ LS2 Annual Meeting 2020 in Zürich.
In the coming years, we envisage further events, workshops and symposia for the community. We are thus looking forward to contributing to further strengthen the vibrant Biophysics community in Switzerland!
Executive Committee
Beat Fierz - President
EPFL
Aleksandra Radenovic - Vice-President
EPFL
Sebastian Hiller
University of Basel, Biozentrum
Horst Vogel
EPFL
Karsten Kruse
University of Geneva
Benoit Zuber
University of Bern
Stefanie Jonas
ETH Zurich
Events from the LS2 Biophysics Section
- From solid-state to Biophysics 5-12 June 2021 (organized by Laszlo Forro, Slaven Garaj, Davor Pavuna, Igor Stagljar and Aleksandra Radenovic)
- MPS-EPFL-Center Summerschool on synthetic biology online probably in July, details coming soon (organized by Aleksandra Radenovic, Joachim Spatz, Ilia Platzman)
- 10th Single molecule localization microscopy meeting 31 August - 2 September 2021, EPFL, Lausanne (organized by Suliana Manley and Aleksandra Radenovic)
- CECAM workshop Nanopore Translocation and Nanochannel Confined Biopolymers: bridging theory and experiments. 08-10 September 2021 (organized by Aniket Bhattacharya, Matteo Ceccarelli, Matteo Dal Peraro, Cristian Micheletti Fabien Montel, Aleksandra Radenovic)
- MIC Symposium 2021 - 3D Electron microscopy Friday 19 November 2021, 09:00, Bern (organized by Benoit Zuber Wanda Kukulski, Michael Stoffel and Dimitri Vanhecke)
- LS2 Annual Meeting 2020 13-14 February 2020, Irchel Campus, University of Zürich. The Section of Biophysics has organized a Symposium entitled "Biological Systems on the Molecular Scale", with Pr. Madhavi Krishnan (Oxford University) and Pr. Georg Fantner (EPFL) as invited speakers, and a presentation by Zeiss.
- 20th International Congress of IUPAB Foz do Iguazú, Brazil, October 26th - 30th, 2020
- 6th EBSA Membranes workshop, entitled "Problems and Methods in Membrane Biophysics". Fuenterrabia/Hondarrabia, Spain, June 21st - 26th, 2020
Stockholm
Monday 31st July – Friday 4th August 2023
Preliminary website: https://mkon.nu/ebsa.
Confirmed Plenaries include Nobel Laureate David Julius, UCSF as well as Professors Karen Fleming, Johns Hopkins University, Lewis Kay, University of Toronto, Molly Stevens, Imperial College London, and Thorsten Wohland, National University Singapore, together with eight Keynotes and 44 Invited Speakers covering all fields of Biophysics.
Student Bursaries are available to attend the Congress: http://ebsa.org/portal/bursaries .
Congratulations to Prof. Anne-Florence Bitbol who was awarded the 2020 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize In Biological Physics in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the areas of physics within the remit of the Commission. She was a nominee of the LS2 Biophysics section. https://iupap.org/who-we-are/internal-organization/commissions/biological-physics/c6-awards/
Are you a scientist trying to find a research group led by women working on membrane transporters, ion channels or membrane biology? Are you looking for a speaker in the field of Biophysics for your next conference? Are you a scientist trying to find a research group led by women working on membrane transporters, ion channels or membrane biology?
This new site —Women Plus in Biophysics— offers you a tool to find researchers in Biophysics from all over the world by their position, research topic or name of the country where they are based. You may have access to the full list of scientists registered so far by searching “all”, which displays all the records alphabetically listed.
The database is an initiative of Hugues Abriel —National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) TransCure (Switzerland) — and Sharona Gordon from the University of Washington in Seattle (USA). The Women Plus in Biophysics site is currently supported by the NCCR TransCure and SNSF.
Existing LS2 members: log in at www.ls2.ch, click on "Change the LS2 Sections you are in" and change to/add the new section "Biophysics".
New members: can apply for the LS2 membership here and select "Section Biophysics" or other sections in the online application form.
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