Workshops

HFSP support for biophysicists

Monday 17 July 2017, Fintry Room
Times: 12:30-14:55 (tbc)

The physical sciences have had a significant influence on the knowledge originating from the broad field of life sciences. For example, major breakthroughs in developmental biology were achieved by advanced optical tools that allow high resolution live imaging in combination with new sophisticated chemical probes for labelling molecules of interest with unprecedented precision. In addition to breakthroughs resulting from tool development there is still a need for the life sciences to formulate new concepts for understanding natural phenomena at higher organizational scales.

Research at the interface of physics and biology provided a most fruitful environment for generating new concepts and for a deeper knowledge of fundamental processes in the life sciences. Collaborative yet interdisciplinary efforts involving biologists and physicists over the last decade have unraveled new ways of understanding, for example, morphogenesis during development, signal processing in protein and genetic networks, and roles of fluctuations for determining the fates of cells and tissues. Mixed teams of biologists and physicists are now more frequently collaborating and are sharing experimental approaches and theoretical ideas.

In this symposium HFSP funded researchers will present examples of such interdisciplinary projects. The selected talks will highlight different aspects of frontier research in the life sciences with particular emphasis on collaborations with scientists from physics. The symposium will also include a talk about preparing a proposal for HFSP grant competitions.

Click here to download the conference programme

Chair (tbc): Prof. Helmut Grubmüller, MPI for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany
Organizer: Dr. Guntram Bauer, HFSPO, Strasbourg, France

3Rs and Biophysics

Wednesday 19 July 2017
Times: 12:40-14:40

Chairs: Cris dos Remedios, Sydney, Australia
Michelle Peckham, Leeds, UK

Speaker 1: Valerie Speirs, Leeds, UK - Using the Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank to Generate New Biomaterials to Accelerate Breast Cancer Research and Address the 3Rs

Speaker 2: Cris dos Remedios, Sydney, Australia - The Sydney Heart Bank reduces reliance on animal models and also shows how a mouse model of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy differs from human HCM.

Speaker 3: Christian Tiede, Leeds, UK - Affimers are versatile and renewable molecular recognition reagents

Speaker 4: Michelle Peckham, Leeds, UK - Super-resolution microscopy of actin affimers (synthetic replacements for animal-derived actin antibodies).

Bridging the gap: Undergraduate education across the 'disciplines'

Wednesday 19 July 2017 
Times: 12:40-14:40

Chairs: Rhoda Hawkins (IoP) and Jeremy Craven (BBS)

Discussion of the challenges and opportunities of crossovers between physical and life sciences in undergraduate teaching programmes. An informal session coorganised by IOP Biological Physics Group and the British Biophysical Society. All welcome.