Biophysical Society Research Articles

“Meet the IUPAB councilor”—Thomas Gutsmann

AbstractAs one of the twelve newly elected councillors, it is my pleasure to provide a brief biographical sketch for the readers of Biophys. Rev. and the members of the Biophysical Societies. I have been actively involved in the German Biophysical Society (DGfB) since 2008, initially as the speaker for the “Membrane Biophysics” section and, since 2015, as the secretary. Within the IUPAB council I follow Prof. Hans-Joachim Galla, former Secretary and President of the German Biophysical Society, who served as a councillor for two terms from 2018 to 2024. Thus, a direct continuation of the German contribution to the IUPAB is guaranteed. My journey in biophysics began during my studies of physics at the University of Kiel, where I specialized in physiology and biophysics. After earning my doctorate in the lab of Ulrich Seydel at the Research Center Borstel, I spent two years at the University of California, Santa Barbara, working in Paul Hansma’s lab on the development and application of atomic force microscopy. During my time at UCSB, I also collaborated with Jacob Israelachvili’s lab on membrane properties. Since 2008, I have been leading the Biophysics Research Group at the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center. In 2010, I was appointed as a professor at the University of Lübeck. Additionally, since 2023, I have been serving as an associate member at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) in Hamburg.

Biophysical Reviews special issue for the 21st IUPAB congress and 62nd meeting of the Biophysical Society of Japan, Kyoto, Japan, 2024

Biophysical Reviews special issue for the 21st IUPAB congress and 62nd meeting of the Biophysical Society of Japan, Kyoto, Japan, 2024

Efforts for younger generations: the Biophysical Society of Japan and IUPAB2024

Efforts for younger generations: the Biophysical Society of Japan and IUPAB2024

Commentary: Biophysics and Physicobiology, the official international journal of the Biophysical Society of Japan

Commentary: Biophysics and Physicobiology, the official international journal of the Biophysical Society of Japan

Clinical practice guidelines for gene therapy to treat hereditary hearing loss

AbstractHereditary deafness is a common neurosensory disorder, and 148 non‐syndromic deafness genes have been identified to date. Gene therapy has been used to treat a variety of genetic diseases, but no gene therapy drug for hereditary deafness has been approved for clinical use. At present, several clinical trials of gene therapy for hereditary deafness are underway. However, few normative documents have been issued to guide the standardization of gene therapy for hearing loss, and this document is the first global gene therapy guideline for hereditary hearing loss. The guidelines were jointly developed and drafted by experienced audiologists, virologists and biologists who are vigorously involved in inner ear gene therapy research in the Hearing, Speech and Communication Subsociety of Biophysical Society of China, Audiology Development Foundation Of China and Audiology Subsociety of Jiangsu Medical Association. These guidelines cover preclinical research and clinical practice of gene therapy for hereditary deafness, including indications, key points of pre‐clinical research, patient selection criteria, pre‐clinical preparation, drug efficacy, drug safety evaluation criteria, ethical review, etc. We hope that the guidelines will promote the standardization of clinical practice related to gene therapy for hereditary deafness in China and around the world.

Fifty years of biophysics in Argentina.

In 1972, a group of young Argentinean scientists nucleated in the so-called Membrane Club constituted the Biophysical Society of Argentina (SAB). Over the years, this Society has grown and embraced new areas of research and emerging technologies. In this commentary, we provide an overview of the early stages of biophysics development in Argentina and highlight some of the notable achievements made during the past five decades. The SAB Annual Meetings have been a platform for intense scientific discussions, and the Society has fostered numerous international connections, becoming a hallmark of SAB activities over these 50 years. Initially centered on membrane biophysics, SAB focus has since expanded to encompass diverse fields such as molecular, cellular, and systems biophysics.

A view from the President of the Indian Biophysical Society.

This Commentary introduces the readers of Biophysical Reviews to the current president of the Indian Biophysical Society and details a few recent activities of the society in its domestic and international promotion of the biophysics as a scientific discipline.

Editors' Roundup: June 2023.

This commentary article represents the latest edition of the Biophysical Reviews 'Editors' Roundup' Series - a platform made available to the editorial board members of any journal with a genuine interest in promoting biophysical content. Each journal associated editor is able to submit a short description of up to five articles recently appearing in their journals with an explanation of why these articles are of interest. This edition (Vol. 15 Issue 3 June 2023) carries contributions from editorial members associated with Biophysics and Physicobiology (Biophysical Society of Japan), Biophysics (Russian Academy of Sciences), Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics (Springer), and Biophysical Reviews (IUPAB-International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics).

Multiscale genome organization symposium - annual biophysical society meeting 2023.

Multiscale genome organization symposium - annual biophysical society meeting 2023.

The inauguration of iRADIOLOGY

The first X-ray image of a human hand was taken by Wilhelm C. Röntgen. This achievement marked the beginning of modern medical imaging: Information within living bodies could be noninvasively visualized for the first time, bringing together radiology and medical imaging. Since then, new knowledge and advancements in this field have been rapidly emerging, with no sign of ever reaching a stopping point. Supported by increasingly powerful computers, X-ray technologies such as computed tomography (CT) provide three-dimensional anatomical images with high resolution and great accuracy, making them the most important tools and gold standards in clinical diagnosis. Gamma rays and positron emissions generated by radionuclides represent other forms of radiation harnessed by clinical imaging, which have led to the development of Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). These imaging modalities realize three-dimension functional and metabolic imaging noninvasively and are widely used in oncology as powerful diagnostic and research tools. Optical imaging (OI) involves photons within the visible spectrum and surrounding regions (ultraviolet and near infrared). These radiations carry much lower energy, offering several advantages such as their nonionizing character, ease of use, and high spatial and temporal resolutions. OI operating within the second near infrared region represents another attractive research hotspot in the field of medical imaging. Its ability to achieve deep tissue penetration, combined with low biological background signal, supports broad clinical application. Imaging modalities such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Ultrasound (US) have undergone important developments in recent years and have been widely used in soft tissue imaging. They have contributed irreplaceable and valuable information for condition assessment and medical decision-making. Equipped with radioactive molecular probes, PET and SPECT are now progressing into a new era of medical imaging: molecular imaging. Unlike CT and related technologies that specialize in the presentation of anatomical information, molecular imaging can visualize biophysical activity in 3D at the molecular level with high resolution, greatly complementing traditional medical imaging. This methodology has played a significant role in many areas, such as clinical diagnosis, therapy monitoring, preclinical disease research, drug discovery, and drug development. Current research efforts are also being directed toward designing imaging probes for other medical imaging modalities, including CT, OI, MRI, and US. These technologies are being intensively investigated with the goal of broadening their use in molecular imaging, offering more imaging perspectives and dimensions. Molecular imaging is now one of the primary driving forces of current medical imaging research and is expected to advance the field in several key directions. With all these advancing technologies and modalities, medical imaging has become intimately involved in the process of clinical treatment and has become the third largest clinical discipline through its integration with many specialties. Intensive and active research is being conducted in this multidisciplinary field, creating tremendous demand for the communication of scientific findings, ideas, and opinions. iRADIOLOGY is an open access and peer-reviewed international journal that focuses on the publication of high-quality scientific works in the field of medical imaging and related multidisciplinary research, with particular attention to their development and application in both fundamental research and clinical practice for the achievement of precision medicine and health. iRADIOLOGY is the official journal of the Chinese Society of Molecular Imaging in Chinese Biophysical Society, aiming to promote the prosperity and development of molecular imaging research and application. The “i” of iRADIOLOGY stands for integration, innovation, insight, interdisciplinary, international, and intelligence. After decades of development, imaging diagnosis has progressed from relying solely on morphological changes to a comprehensive diagnostic system that integrates morphology, function, metabolism, and molecular changes. Recent developments in medical imaging show a trend toward cross-integration with multidisciplinary subjects, such as artificial intelligence, big data mining, pathology, genetics, pharmacy, chemistry, materials science, and bioengineering. This broad discipline involves outstanding efforts from researchers across the world. iRADIOLOGY will bring together all research areas mentioned above and will offer insights into both fundamental and clinical aspects of state-of-the-art medical imaging. The journal will serve as a platform for effective communication and presentation of rapidly emerging innovations in these disciplines. The support and contributions of research colleagues in medical imaging and related disciplines are indispensable and important for the future success of iRADIOLOGY. We sincerely welcome and deeply appreciate your support in any form. It is our wish that iRADIOLOGY promotes the development of medical imaging and, in so doing, benefit the cause of human health. Zhen Cheng: Conceptualization (lead); Writing – original draft (lead); Writing – review & editing (lead). None. The author declares no conflicts of interest. This article here has adhered to the relevant ethical guidelines. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Recent progress in primitive polyester synthesis and membraneless microdroplet assembly.

While it is often believed that the origins of life required participation of early biomolecules, it has been recently proposed that "non-biomolecules", which would have been just as, if not more, abundant on early Earth, could have played a part. In particular, recent research has highlighted the various ways by which polyesters, which do not participate in modern biology, could have played a major role during the origins of life. Polyesters could have been synthesized readily on early Earth through simple dehydration reactions at mild temperatures involving abundant "non-biological" alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) monomers. This dehydration synthesis process results in a polyester gel, which upon further rehydration, can assemble into membraneless droplets proposed to be protocell models. These proposed protocells can provide functions to a primitive chemical system, such as analyte segregation or protection, which could have further led to chemical evolution from prebiotic chemistry to nascent biochemistry. Here, to further shed light into the importance of "non-biomolecular" polyesters at the origins of life and to highlight future directions of study, we review recent studies which focus on primitive synthesis of polyesters from AHAs and assembly of these polyesters into membraneless droplets. Specifically, most of the recent progress in this field in the last five years has been led by laboratories in Japan, and these will be especially highlighted. This article is based on an invited presentation at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society of Japan held in September, 2022 as an 18th Early Career Awardee.

National Academies Report and Biophysics Education

National Academies Report and Biophysics Education

Birth and Early Steps of the Organization of Biophysics in Spain

In the 1960s, Biophysics was an unheard of scientific field in Spain, and even outside Spain, the distinction between Biophysics and Molecular Biology was not clear at the time. This paper describes briefly the developments that led to the foundation of the Spanish National Committee for Biophysics (1981) and of the Spanish Biophysical Society (1987), the incorporation of Spain into IUPAB and EBSA, and the normalized presence of Biophysics as a compulsory subject in undergraduate curricula in Spain.

Editors' roundup: October 2022.

This commentary constitutes the October edition of the 'Editors' roundup'-a multi-author omnibus of personal recommendations to interesting biophysics-related articles contributed by members of the editorial boards of leading international biophysics journals. The present commentary contains contributions from Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics (an official journal of the Biophysical Society of China), European Biophysics Journal (the official journal of the European Biophysical Societies Association), Biophysical Reviews (the official IUPABjournal), and Biophysics (an official journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences). This edition of the Editors' Roundup also contains a new section from an editor at large who has provided selections from a number of journals on a single thematic topic.

7th International conference NBP-2021 “Nanobiophysics: fundamental and applied aspects”

7th International conference “NANOBIOPHYSICS: Fundamental and Applied Aspects” (NBP-2021) took place on October 4-8, 2021 at B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kharkiv, Ukraine). Previous six conferences, starting from 2009, were organized due to joint efforts of B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the NAS of Ukraine and Institute of Physics of the NAS of Ukraine on biennial basis in Kharkiv and Kyiv alternatively. Among 80 registered participants from 16 countries about 40 scientists have presented their lectures and posters offline and other participants were joining the sessions online. 16 keynote lectures and 18 oral presentations were made and 51 posters were discussed offline and online. The goal of the conference was achieved: urgent problems, advances and perspectives of the topical scientific direction of nanobiophysics which embraces achievements of modern molecular biophysics and nanotechnology were discussed. The subjects of physical aspects of biomolecular nanosystems, properties of biomolecules on nanoparticles and nanostructured surfaces, nanobiohybrids formation by 1-D or 2-D nanomaterials with bioobjects, theoretical calculations and computer modeling of nanobiosystems, and applied aspects of nanobiophysics were highlighted at the related sessions. Several additional accompanying events were organized in the framework of the conference, including a Round Table “How biophysics and nanosciences meet modern challenges: the case of COVID-19”, a special session of the Ukrainian Biophysical Society, and SPIE (The International Society of Optics and Photonics) and OSA (The Optical Society) Workshop “Career development opportunities for young scientist and students”. Book of abstract based on NBP-2021 materials was published.

Perspectives on How 1.5 Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic Have Impacted Biophysicists at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

Perspectives on How 1.5 Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic Have Impacted Biophysicists at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

Cell scientist to watch – Abdou Rachid Thiam

Abdou Rachid Thiam was born and raised in Senegal. Following his undergraduate studies at ESPCI Paris, he obtained a PhD in 2010 from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI for his work on the properties of emulsions using microfluidic technology, in the group of Jérôme Bibette. Abdou Rachid then moved to Yale University for a postdoc, funded by a Marie Curie Fellowship, where he worked with James Rothman, as well as Frederic Pincet and Tobias Walther, to reconstitute and study intracellular vesicle trafficking with emulsion droplets. He then became a group leader at the École Normale Supérieure de Paris, where he now also chairs the Biophysics Research Axis. His Biological Emulsions lab combines membrane biophysics and emulsion science with cell biology to understand organelle dynamics, with a special focus on the formation and functionalisation mechanisms of lipid droplets. Abdou Rachid is the winner of the Claude Paoletti Prize (2018), the CNRS bronze medal (2020), as well as the Biophysical Society's Thomas E. Thompson Award (2022).

Participation in 44th Indian Biophysical Society Meeting.

Participation in 44th Indian Biophysical Society Meeting.

Women in science symposium.

A women in science symposium was held at the combined 20th International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) Congress, 45th Annual Brazilian Biophysical Society (SBBf) Meeting and 50th Annual Brazilian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SBBq) Meeting. There were five excellent speakers from prominent scientist from around the globe that included Frances Separovic (University of Melbourne, Australia), Pimchai Chaiyen (Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand), Lauren Arendse (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Milagros Medina (University of Zaragoza, Spain) and Carla Mattos (Northeastern University, USA). Each speaker was asked to reflect on their career and challenges they overcome to attain professional success. What followed was a fascinating and thought-provoking exposé on the careers of these five incredibly talented and strong women.

Beyond Ticking Boxes: Holistic Assessment of Travel Award Programs Is Essential for Inclusivity

Beyond Ticking Boxes: Holistic Assessment of Travel Award Programs Is Essential for Inclusivity