Program

The goal of the summer school is to present to students and researchers an integrated view of new trends and challenges in physical and mathematical aspects of biomechanics. Emphasis will be given on continuum theories and models for biological systems, essentially based on continuum mechanics, fluid or solid and their interaction. The school will be organized around 4 principal themes addressing both state-of-the-art theoretical (physics, theoretical mechanics, mathematics) aspects and applications. The main field of applications will be in the biology of the cell, plants and microbes, and in physiology.

BioMechanics and nonlinear elasticity 
Principles of nonlinear continuum mechanics and elasticity, Ray Ogden (Glasgow)
Mechanics of rubber materials and soft tissues, Giuseppe Saccomandi (Perugia)

BioPolymers, Networks, and Active Gels 
Active fluids and gels, Frank Julicher (Dresden)
BioNetworks, Fred Mackintosh (Amsterdam)

BioFluidics 
Life in fluids and the physics of multicellularity, Ray Goldstein (Cambridge)
BioRobotics, Peko Hosoi (MIT)

Physiology and Morphogenesis
Mechanics of biological growth, Ellen Kuhl (Stanford)
Mechanics of cancer, Luigi Preziosi (Torino)

Applications
The physics of the cell membrane, Martine Ben Amar and Martin M. Müller (ENS-Paris)
Surface tension, wetting, and biology, John Bush (MIT)
BioRheology: from molecules to tissues, Pasquale Ciarletta (ENS-Paris)
Morpho-elasticity, Alain Goriely (Tucson-Arizona)
Genetics and mechanics, Michel Labouesse (IGBMC-Strasbourg)
Mechanics of DNA, John Maddocks (EPFL-Lausanne)
Mixing in Active and Viscoelastic Fluids, Michael Shelley (Courant-New York)
Microbial mechanics, Michael Tabor, (Tucson-Arizona)

The International Conference on Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (ICCMB 2009) is the premier forum for the presentation of new advances and research results in the fields of theoretical, experimental, and applied Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering. The conference will bring together leading researchers, engineers and scientists in the domain of interest from around the world.

The Chemical Biophysics Symposium is a student organized conference now in its eighth year of providing an informal venue for discussions of topics bridging the physical and biological sciences. Past Symposia have been marked by a strong multi-disciplinary turnout including biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, and other more exotic species; lively (but good-natured!) debates during panel discussions and question periods; a lavish Saturday evening banquet; and stellar lineups of prominent invited speakers. We hope to continue this tradition this coming spring (April 24-26, 2009), and we encourage all interested faculty, postdocs, and students to attend.

The Biophysical Society's 53rd Annual Meeting will be held, from February 28, 2009 through March 4, 2009, in Boston, Massachusetts at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The largest gathering of biophysicists around the world, this meeting includes Symposia, Workshops, Minisymposia, Subgroup Programs, and the National Lecture, as well as Educational Exhibits, Exhibitor Presentations, and Committee Events.

Innovation in Discovery, Diagnostics, and Delivery

Agenda Topics:
Protein Arrays and their Applications 
Protein Expression 
High Throughput Proteomics 
Bioinformatics 
Disease-Related Proteomics

Although there is great interest in inorganic nanomaterials, the real excitement is at the interface of nano physics and chemistry with biology. At the level of cells and below, biological processes are increasingly being conceived in terms of nanomachines, in an environment delineated by nanostructures, that are understandable using techniques familiar to chemists and physicists.
The field is being transformed by remarkable advances in physical measurement as well as biological preparation techniques, including laser technology, single-molecule manipulation, enzymatic techniques, microscopies etc...
This conference will address progress and prospects in Nanobiophysics & Chemistry including nano and microfluidics, single molecule techniques, biomimetics and sensing, biomolecules in confined environments, in vivo imaging, forces in biomolecular systems, manipulation of biomaterials, spectroscopy of biomaterials, nanoparticles in biological environments, force microscopies, simulation of biomolecules and biomolecular assemblies at the atomic and coarse grained scales. Contributed talks in all areas (including those not listed above) are welcome.
The conference will also provide an overview of the latest developments in bionano physics and chemistry. It will be followed immediately by a conference on Nanomedicine where many of the advances in fundamental understanding discussed at the nanobio physics and chemistry event will find application.

Nanomaterials - namely materials showing unique size-dependent or mesoscopic properties - have attracted considerable attention during the past several years owing to their interesting chemistry, unique properties and potential applications in fields such as life-sciences, energy harvesting, telecommunication and others. The focus of the conference will be on the preparation and exploitation of nanomaterials.
World reknowned experts on various aspects of this very broad and rapidly emerging area have been invited. The program will be interesting for beginners and experts in the field as well as industries already active or interested in these materials.
Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:
Synthesis methods for the preparation of nanomaterials (including up-scaling)
Modification of nanomaterials (e.g. surface functionalisation of colloidal nanoparticles)
Characterisation and exploitation of optical, electrochemical, catalytical and other properties
Nanomaterial-based devices
Application of nanomaterials in life-sciences
Self-assembly

Gordon research conference

For three decades this biennial meeting has brought prominent senior and younger scientists in all aspects of biology, medicine, physico-chemical and pharmaceutical fields to meet the common interests and goals of better drug therapy using novel strategies of drug delivery and drug carriers. The 2008 meeting will focus on several areas of drug delivery including protein and oligonucleotide/gene delivery, polymers and lipid particles, nano-materials, antibody drug-conjugates and cellular carriers, directed to various targets at multiple levels, as well as multimodal molecular imaging applied to monitoring delivery and therapeutic efficacy. This meeting will also include the approaches of chemical biology and nanotechnology to target and achieve enhanced delivery and therapeutic outcomes.