BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
12
SEPTEMBER
2014
Membrane Biophysics
FINAL Call for nominations for the 2015
Kenneth S. Cole Award
The Membrane Biophysics subgroup is now solic-
iting nominations for the Kenneth S. Cole Award.
This is an annual award, given to an investiga-
tor who has made a substantial contribution to
the understanding of membrane biophysics. The
award will be presented at the subgroup dinner
directly following the Saturday afternoon sympo-
sium at the 2015 Annual Meeting in Baltimore.
This year’s dinner will be held in conjunction with
the Permeation and Transport subgroup. Pre-
registration for the dinner is encouraged and can
be completed along with the meeting registration.
Any member of the Membrane Biophysics sub-
group may be a nominator. Additional details and
a list of previous awardees can be found on the
society website at
From the
main page, click 'Subgroups' and then 'Membrane
Biophysics'.
The recipient will be determined by the selection
committee, consisting of the Subgroup Chair, the
Chair-elect, the past Chair, the past past Chair
and the Secretary-Treasurer. Nominations should
contain a brief statement summarizing the qualifi-
cations of the nominee and a CV.
The deadline for nominations is October 17th,
2014. Please email nominations to the subgroup
Secretary-Treasurer,
Chris Ahern
(christopher-
Announcement of the 2015 Cole Awardee and
additional details about the dinner will be posted
on the website, announced by email, and included
in the newsletter when available.
—
Christopher A. Ahern
, Secretary/Treasurer,
Membrane Biophysics subgroup
IDP
In July, the biennial IDP Gordon Research
Conference (GRC) was held at Stonehill College
in Easton, Massachusetts. Preceding this six-day
event was the inaugural IDP Gordon Research
Seminar (GRS),
Fundamental Characteristics and
Approaches to Understand the Biological Functions
of IDPs
, organized by UCSF’s
Aurelia Ball
and
Charles Ravarani
, Cambridge. The GRS is open
only to graduate students and postdocs, and allows
junior researchers to present their work directly to
their peers, meet each other, and socialize.
Over the course of the two days, attendees heard
about a range of different tools and approaches for
studying IDPs, as well as many specific examples
of how the behavior and properties of IDPs link
directly to phenotype. In addition to the talks,
poster sessions provided a more interactive stage
for presenters to garner feedback, and to prepare
themselves for further discussion with the incred-
ible group of world experts who attended the
GRC. A career panel rounded off the seminar,
where more senior researchers at various stages in
their career provided honest and insightful advice
regarding career development, types of academic
roles, and the kinds of opportunities available for
those in the IDP field. As with the IDP subgroup
meeting at the Biophysical Society conference in
February, one thing that really struck me about
the IDP community was the openness to new
ideas and willingness to share data, theories, and
resources. The constantly overheard exclamation
of “I didn’t really think of myself as an IDP person
but…” provides an impression of the pervasive-
ness of disordered proteins in biology and gave rise
to an incredible diversity of approaches, back-
grounds, and systems. The GRS and the GRC
were hits with both established players and fresh-
faced newcomers alike.
—
Alex Holehouse
, Washington University,
Graduate Student Representative, IDP subgroup
Subgroups
