• London, UK

    Scientific discussion meeting organised by Professor Michael Cates FRS, Professor John Seddon, Dr Nicholas Brooks, Dr Paul Clegg and Professor Alex Lips

    Event details

    The science of soft interfaces (lipid membranes, emulsions, particle‐stabilised droplets etc) is rapidly moving into an era of predictive capability that allows the design and development of advanced materials to be based on secure scientific knowledge. The meeting will not only address fundamental science, focussing on generic design principles for self‐organisation and interfacial structure, but also explore the resulting prospects for ‘informed formulation’ of new and improved industrial products.

    The draft programme, abstracts and biographies of the speakers will be made available shortly. Recorded audio of the presentations will be available on this page after the event and the papers will be published in a future issue of Philosophical Transactions A.

    Attending this event

    This event is intended for researchers in relevant fields and is free to attend. There are a limited number of places and registration is essential. An optional lunch is offered and should be booked during registration (all major credit cards accepted).

    [su_button url="https://royalsociety.org/events/2015/10/soft-interfacial-materials/" target="blank"]web site[/su_button]

  • Venice, Italy

    The School focuses on contemporary biophysical topics. The selected subjects will draw young researchers’ attention to frontier research issues of considerable scientific and educational impact. The School will be held in the magnificent Palazzo Franchetti, the premises of the “Istituto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti” located in the historical centre of Venice.

    The focus of the 2015 School is Theoretical and Computational Approaches to Biophysics covering Polymer Physics models of chromosome organization in the cell nucleus, and ab-initio and classical Molecular Dynamics simulations of proteins. Different theories, algorithms and experiments will be discussed by the invited speakers.

    [su_button url="http://www.pa.ibf.cnr.it/sibpa/index.php/scuola-internazionale-di-biofisica-sibpa-ivsla/school/55-xix-edition-2015" target="blank"]web site[/su_button]

  • Riva del Garda, Italy

    The 3-day symposium will consist of 15 plenary lectures (of 50 minutes each), given by outstanding scientists whose exceptionally creative work opens up new frontiers for polymer science. In addition, there will be three poster sessions (each consisting of two parts within the same day) allowing for the viewing of a large number of poster presentations.

    Join top plenary speakers and international delegates at the Fourth International Symposium Frontiers in Polymer Science.

    [su_button url="http://www.frontiersinpolymerscience.com/" target="blank"]web site[/su_button]

  • Jülich, Germany

    This year’s Spring School aims to give both an introduction to and an overview of current research topics of soft matter systems with the emphasis on biological and technological functionality.

    Synthetic and biological polymers, polyelectrolytes, amphiphiles and colloids are the building blocks of many different materials. An understanding of their structural and dynamical properties is important for the rational design of structures with predescribed functionality, in itself a challenging task due to the enormous complexity of these systems.

    The goal of this Spring School is not only to teach selected topics from soft matter science and biophysics to students and postdocs in physics, chemistry and biology, but also to establish the interdisciplinary connection between these fields. This includes, in particular, introducing biologists and chemists to physical experimental methods and theoretical modelling, and acquainting physicists with the large variety of fascinating chemical and biological phenomena.

    Introductory lectures will present the basics of soft matter science and biophysics. These lectures aim at establishing a common level of basic interdisciplinary knowledge. Subsequent lectures will then treat more advanced topics within both disciplines and emphasize interdisciplinary aspects. In addition, experimental and computer simulation techniques will be presented and explained, and examples of applications will be given.

    [su_button url="http://www.fz-juelich.de/pgi/EN/Leistungen/SchoolsAndCourses/SpringSchool/_node.html" target="blank"]web site[/su_button]

  • IBI

    Rostock, Germany

    Topics
    • Generation of regenerative materials
    • Cell – extracellular matrix interaction
    • Material induced biological responses
    • Mechanical control of cells

    [su_button url="http://www.ibi-symposium.org/" target="blank"]web site[/su_button]

  • Riva del Garda, Italy

    The 3-day symposium will consist of 15 plenary lectures (of 50 minutes each), given by outstanding scientists whose exceptionally creative work opens up new frontiers for polymer science. In addition, there will be three poster sessions (each consisting of two parts within the same day) allowing for the viewing of a large number of poster presentations.

    [su_button url="http://www.frontiersinpolymerscience.com/" target="blank"] web site[/su_button]

  • Sitges, Spain

    Energy, the environment and human health have emerged as strategic priorities not only in research but in all aspects of our lives. Hybrid materials have already demonstrated good promise in addressing and offering solutions in each of these priority areas.

    The main objective of this large interdisciplinary conference is to bring together, at a truly international level, people with shared interests in hybrid materials, including:

    • Polymer chemists, physicists and engineers
    • Biomaterials chemists, physicists and engineers
    • Organic chemists
    • Inorganic chemists
    • Solid state chemists
    • Sol-gel chemists
    • Composites scientists
    • Colloid chemists and physicists
    • Zeolite, meso- and microporous materials scientists
    • Broad nano- and materials scientists

    [su_button url="http://www.hybridmaterialsconference.com/" target="blank"] web site[/su_button]

  • Julich, Germany

    Lipid and surfactant membranes are important building blocks for many applications of soft matter physics, and play an essential role for biological systems. A detailed understanding of protein, nanoparticle and virus interactions with membranes is important for a variety of processes – ranging from material transport within the cell and cellular uptake to viral infection and nanotoxicity.

    The relevant mechanisms can only be understood by considering simultaneously the physicochemical properties of membrane, nano-particles, and proteins. Therefore, this workshop intends to bring together researchers that are interested in particles and proteins, as well as those interested in lipid membranes and surfactants.

    This workshop is sponsored by the SoftComp network, but is open to anyone who wishes to take part. Contributed talks and posters will be selected on the basis of the abstracts submitted.

    We look forward to welcoming you to Jülich in October!

    Thorsten Auth, Patricia Bassereau, and Gerhard Gompper

    [su_button url="http://www.fz-juelich.de/ics/ics-2/EN/Leistungen/ConferencesAndWorkshops/[email protected]/_node.html" target="blank"] web site[/su_button]

  • Julich, Germany

    When studying biological organisms, one is confronted with the sheer complexity of the physiological processes that are essential for life.

    Every biological system requires a delicate hierarchical organization of interactions spanning from processes in a single cell to the collective behavior characterizing bionetworks.

    This symposium aims at providing an interdisciplinary event to bring together the complementary skills of experimentalists and theoreticians to better understand the role of forces, flow and fluctuations within biological systems.

    Organizers: S. Dasgupta, G. Saggiorato, G. Fabris, M. Balbach

    [su_button url="http://www.ihrs-biosoft.de/ihrs-biosoft/EN/Curriculum/CurrentSemester/BioSymp/_node.html" target="blank"] web site[/su_button]

  • GRC conference

    Waterville Valley, USA

    Leveraging Mechanism and Chemical Design for Improved Therapeutic Effect
    The 2014 Gordon Conference on Drug Carriers in Medicine and Biology builds on a rich tradition encompassing fundamental principles through clinical application. Top academic investigators and leaders from pharma and biotech will gather to consider latest advances, as well as critical hurdles requiring coordinated multidisciplinary solutions. The conference provides a dynamic, diverse and collegial environment with academic, industrial and regulatory viewpoints. The meeting also provides a unique opportunity for young investigators and junior scientists to present their work in poster format and to exchange ideas with leaders in the field. Select poster presenters will be invited to provide short talks.

    The conference focuses on cutting edge delivery systems based on polymers, lipids, conjugates, and advanced multicomponent nanoengineered systems containing all types of cargos (proteins, RNA, cells, anti-cancer agents, vaccines, imaging and diagnostic agents). The program will include sessions on mechanisms of carrier distribution, cellular uptake and trafficking, and new approaches to addressing these hurdles. Session themes include targeted systems for delivery, new approaches to chemical modification, engineering, and conjugation for improved delivery, and transport, fate, and efficacy of drug delivery systems. Applications and exciting opportunities in ophthalmic delivery, cancer, and immunotherapy will be included in specific sessions.

    The Waterville Valley Resort provides an excellent setting for opportunities for informal discussions in addition to outdoor recreation activities, which are part of the conference registration. Early application is recommended, as attendance is limited, and the conference has been over-subscribed in the past. The co-chairs welcome applications from junior scientists to attend and present their research findings. A number of travel awards will be made based on poster abstracts within the qualifying period.

    Late-Breaking Topics / Young Investigator Presentations Session: The speakers for this session will be chosen from submitted poster abstracts. The selected speakers will be announced on Sunday evening.

    [su_button url="https://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2014&program=drugcarr" target="blank"] web site[/su_button]

  • Soft-Fire 2014

    Corgèse, France

    Soft condensed matter – Summer school

    Soft condensed matter is the subject of a large number of investigations all around the world, both from a fundamental point of view and from a more applied side, due to the large number of practical possibilities relying on the aptitude of soft matter to provide large responses to small solicitations.

    Following the first Dynasoft 2008 and 2010 schools, held in August 2008 and August 2010 in Cargèse, the present summer school Soft-FIRE will this year stress on combining academic lectures and industrial talks. The aim of the school is to train young researchers by presenting pedagogical lectures starting from basic knowledge and reaching state of the art research on a number of fast evolving questions. This school ambition to promote informal discussions and interactions between researchers. It will give the opportunity to young researchers for developing a professional career perspective both in academics or industry.

    Main topics

    • Soft matter physics 
    • Soft chemistry 
    • Microfluidics 
    • Statistical physics in soft matter 
    • Polymers for energy 
    • Drug delivery 
    • Polymer electronics 
    • Technical methods 
    • Biophysics, viruses 
    • Colloids

    [su_button url="https://sites.google.com/site/softfire2014/" target="blank"] web site[/su_button]

  • Lausanne, Switzerland

    The cytoplasm and nucleoplasm of cells has a highly dynamic mesoscale structure. We define the mesoscale as being from of order a hundred nanometres to the size of the cell, which is typically of order 10 micrometres for eukaryote cells. Recent work has shown that we have been dramatically underestimating the extent of this mesoscale self-organisation, and its role in key processes of the cell function. This unique workshop will bring together the interdisciplinary group of scientists needed to advance this field.

    We break our outline of the state of the art into 4 sections: 1) Functional liquid droplets in cells, 2) Self-organised transport, forces and flow in cells, 3) Protein solution phase behaviour in vitro and in silico, and 4) Statistical physics and fluid mechanics of active matter.

    In each area we will try and set out the state of the art, and indicate how we think this can be advanced by the collaborations we propose to encourage in the workshop.

    1) Functional liquid droplets in cells. The cytoplasm is very far from uniform and structureless. Liquid-droplet-like structures have been studied in many cells. Examples are P granules (Brangwynne, 2009), stress granules (Ruggieri, 2012), the puncta of cell-signalling proteins such as Dishevelled (Fiedler 2011; Sear, 2007), and droplets of the anti-viral protein TRIM5alpha that appear to bind to HIV capsids (Campbell, 2007). Motor transport and droplets can operate in tandem, for example, droplets can be transported by motors (Campbell, 2007; Brangwynne, 2009). These self-organised droplet-like structures are known to be functional (disrupting them can alter function). But how most of this self-organisation contributes to function is unknown. Modern experimental techniques can now provide quantitative information on key properties such as turnover rates, but simple models and computer simulations are lacking. Systems biology approaches are needed for many aspects of cell behaviour, but these use ODEs or in some cases multiple static compartments (Lloyd-Lewis, 2013). Here, improved modelling of the droplets would allow us to advance the state of the art in systems biology approaches to these systems. There are models and simulations on phase separation controlled by active processes dating back to the 1990s (Glotzer, 1995) but these have not been used to model data from cell biology experiments. There are also ‘whole cell’ models – models with an explicit spatially-resolved whole cell volume. They have been applied to study systems with protein clusters (DePristo, 2009). But so far these have only been applied to bacteria (DePristo, 2009), not to the much larger and more complex, and hence much more computationally demanding, eukaryote cells.

    2) Self-organised transport, forces and flow in cells. Cells contain a dynamic cytoskeleton, with actively polymerising and depolymerising actin filaments and microtubules, each with molecular motors moving along them. These have been shown by cell biologists to be used by the cell to localise multiple entities in the cytoplasm, such as mRNA (Holt, 2009) and P granules (Brangwynne, 2009). This is typically by towing a cargo that is directly attached to the motor, but motors can also induce flows (Ganguly, 2012), which in turn affect transport and localisation (Trong, 2012). All these processes dramatically affect the rates at which protein molecules encounter each other in the cytoplasm. However, almost all modelling in systems biology assumes a well-mixed uniform cytoplasm in which molecules encounter each other at a rate that scales as the number of protein molecules divided by the total volume of the cytoplasm (Lloyd-Lewis, 2013). In many cases active processes associated with the cytoskeleton mean that this is not correct. A systems biology approach is essential to model many key aspects of cell behaviour such as proliferation and differentiation but the ODE models which are the state of the art here are clearly very crude approximations. More realistic models of the behaviour are required, and they need to be rooted in an understanding of the basic physics of the self-organised cytoplasm, to ensure that they are generalisable and robust.

    3) Protein solution phase behaviour in vitro and in silico. Protein solutions often undergo liquid/liquid phase separation, forming liquid droplets. How this relates to protein interactions has been studied (Voets, 2012; Zhang, 2012). This experimental work on protein solutions has inspired theoretical and computer simulation work to calculate not only the phase behaviour of models of proteins, but also non-equilibrium phenomena such as gelation (Rovigatti, 2013; Dorsaz, 2011). This combination of computer simulation and experiment has resulted in a good basic understanding of the interactions of at least some simple proteins in solution, and how these interactions control behaviour such as the formation of droplets. This is now ready to be extended to the in vivo situation. But to do this, collaborations with cell biologists are required.

    4) Statistical physics and fluid mechanics of active matter. This is a rapidly advancing field of physics. Our understanding of the fundamentals of the behaviour of these systems has matured greatly over the last 10 years; see the review of Marchetti et al. (2012). This has required the development of advanced mesoscopic simulation tools. The knowledge developed in past decades is now ready to be applied to a wider range of problems in cell biology. In particular we believe that it is now ready to contribute to improving the models of dynamic cell processes in systems biology models. For example, to replace simple second order reaction ODEs with more accurate expressions for reactions in the dynamic self-organised cytoplasm. Also, computer simulations have recently been applied to study the collective dynamics of transport on a crowded cytoskeleton (Neri, 2013), and interesting results such as the spontaneous formation of dynamic heterogeneties have been found. But these results have not yet been applied directly to biological problems such as mRNA transport and localisation in cells.

    [su_button url="http://www.cecam.org/workshop-0-984.html" target="blank"] web site[/su_button]

  • Cambridge, UK

    The lectures will introduce key topics of current interest together with the theoretical, experimental and computer simulation approaches used to address them. The School is directed towards postgraduate students from a wide range of backgrounds including physics, chemistry, chemical engineering and biophysics. The school will start at mid-day on Friday 11 April and finish with lunch on Monday 14 April. There will be lectures on Colloids, Soft Matter and Food, Biomolecular Solutions and Theory & Mesoscale Simulations.

     

    Important deadlines

    Application deadline: 17 January 2014

    Abstract submission deadline: 21 March 2014

    Registration deadline: 4 April 2014

    [su_button url="http://scmspring2014.iopconfs.org" target="blank"] web site[/su_button]

  • PhysES 2014

    Ourense, Spain

    La Reunión de Física Estadística se viene celebrando, con intervalos de año y medio, desde 1987, año en el que tuvo lugar la primera edición en Barcelona. Desde 1996 esta reunión es conocida también como FisEs. Con FisEs ’14 se cumplirán, por tanto, 27 años de reuniones.

    Ha sido organizado siempre por distintos grupos de investigación, repartidos por toda la geografía nacional, y ha reunido a una media de 150 investigadores y a conferenciantes invitados de primera talla mundial.

    En torno a FisEs se creó, en 2001, el Grupo Especializado de Física Estadística y No Lineal (GEFENOL), dentro del marco de la Real Sociedad Española de Física. Su principal objetivo es promover la Física Estadística y No Lineal en España y el intercambio científico y académico entre los grupos que investigan en estas disciplinas.

    web site

  • Prague, Czech Republic

    ICNFA is a series of international conferences which are held yearly. These conferences focus on all aspects of Nanotechnology. This year, Prague, Czech Republic will host the fifth international conference. With the growing success of ICNFA, the fifth conference promises to continue increasing in popularity and interest.

    The aim of ICNFA’14 is to bring together the Canadian and International community working in the field of nanotechnology to foster an environment conducive to present advancements in Nanotechnology. This conference will also provide an ideal opportunity to develop new collaborations and partnerships with experts in the field. This year’s conference guarantees to be a great occasion to share knowledge and contribute to the ever-growing scientific world on Nanotechnology. ICNFA’14 will take advantage of the synergy of previous year’s conferences and will continue to move forward in the field of Nanotechnology. ICNFA’14 will provide keynote talks, oral presentations sessions and poster sessions that will demonstrate new information and research in regards to Nanotechnology.

    web site