IV. International conference on molecular recognition

Abstract

Hungary hosted two “back-to-back” international biophysics meetings in August, 2007. The ‘IV. International Conference on Molecular Recognition’ was organized by the Department of Biophysics, University of Pecs Medical School between 15 and 18 August 2007 in Pecs (Hungary). The conference was organized under the patronage of Szilveszter Vizi E., President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS); Peter Tasnadi, Mayor of the City of Pecs; Robert Gabriel, Rector of the University of Pecs; Janos Szolcsanyi, President of the Regional Committee of the HAS in Pecs; and Michael A. Ferenczi, President of the EBSA. More than 90 participants attended the meeting from 11 countries, involving many young scientists as well. The conference provided an overview of a broad range of interdisciplinary subjects. The topics were grouped in the following sections: Cytoskeletal Proteins; Biological Membranes; Thermal Analysis of Protein Interactions; Nanobiology; Protein Dynamics and Conformations. This meeting was followed by the 2nd Regional Biophysics Conference taking place in Balatonfured, Hungary, between 21st and 25th of August. The local organizer was the Hungarian Biophysical Society, lead by Laszlo Zimanyi (Biological Research Center of HAS, Szeged) as the chairman of the organizing committee. The meeting was also supported by the European Biophysical Societies’ Association and the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics. A team of experts delegated by the Biophysical Societies of the region (Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Serbia, and Slovenia) was responsible for the scientific program. The conference’s main idea was to bring biophysicists together and organize topical sessions with internationally recognized experts from the region as well as from other countries such as Germany, the United States of America, Switzerland and France. Altogether, more than 150 participants attended the conference and the topics discussed during the lectures and poster presentations were Macromolecular structure and function; Membranes, receptors and channels; Photobiophysics and biological energy conversion; Functional lipidomics; Biophysics of cells, tissues and organs; Physical models of complex biological systems, systems biology and networks; Advances in spectroscopy; Nanotechnology of biological materials, biosensors and medical applications; Single molecule techniques, advances in microscopy and imaging; Theoretical biophysics, bioinformatics and computer modeling. Participants of both the conferences were invited to write primarily research papers for the European Biophysics Journal (EBJ). The manuscripts went through the regular review process and the accepted manuscripts are published in the current issue of EBJ. Our intention with this special issue is to give a cross section of biophysics-oriented research in the region and call the attention of the scientific community to laboratories conducting high quality research in this region for potential collaborations and building research networks. We hope that assembly of these papers into a special issue gives a good impression of the wide variety of research and projects running in the contributing laboratories. On behalf of both organizing committees and with the anticipation of a good reception of this issue we wish pleasant time with reading the papers.