BSC 2019 in Mississauga, ON

Highlights:

The 5th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society of Canada was held on the beautiful campus of the University of Mississauga (UTM), located just outside of downtown Toronto. The meeting offered over 200 attendees the opportunity to learn about exciting new developments in biophysics research and to network with peers from across Canada and further afield. The 2019 meeting was dedicated to biophysical techniques and discoveries that have revolutionized research and lead to critical advancements in medicine, pharmaceutical sciences, biotechnology, material sciences and biosensing. This year’s National Lecture was delivered by Dr. Hue Sun Chan from the University of Toronto, the 2019 Fellow of the Biophysical Society of Canada. And new to the meeting was a lecture by the inaugural Young Investigator of the Biophysical Society of Canada, Dr. Robert Chica from the University of Ottowa.

With a reception that opened the event on May 28th, the 2019 BSC meeting ran for 4 days filled with oral and poster presentations given by researchers from around the world. The plenary lectures were given by Samuel Hess from the University of Maine, Edward Lemke from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Tanja Mittag from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and Johan Paulsson from Harvard University. In addition, all attendees were invited to participate in the trainee symposium that was held throughout the afternoon on May 28th, just prior to the opening reception. All in all, the meeting was an exciting event that highlighted the incredible depth and breadth of Biophysics research in Canada.

We thank the various corporate sponsors of this meeting: Larodan, ScopeSys, Dalriada Therapeutics, Paraza Pharma, Horiba Scientific, Mad City Labs, CederLane, ACS Omega, Journal of General Physiology, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, and the Journal of Physical Chemistry B. Likewise, we thank our academic sponsors including Sick Kids, the Faculty of Arts and Science Pathways to Milestones program, as well as decanal support and funding from various departments at the University of Toronto including Chemical and Physical Sciences, CSB, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Biochemistry.

Topics addressed in this conference included:

1. Biophotonics
2. Single-Molecule Biophysics
3. Cell and Systems
4. Disordered Proteins
5. Biopolymers
6. Cell Mechanics
7. Receptors and Cell Signaling
8. Membranes

Organizing Committee:

• Claudiu Gradinaru, Co-Chair, UofT Mississauga
• Josh Milstein, Co-Chair, UofT Mississauga
• Andreas Hilfinger, Co-Chair, UofT Mississauga
• Sarah Rauscher, Co-Chair, UofT Mississauga

Keynote Speakers:

• Samuel T. Hess, University of Maine
• Edward Lemke, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
• Tanja Mittag, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Johan Paulsson, Harvard University

Invited Speakers:

• Jingyi Fei, University of Chicago
• Ilya Finkelstein, University of Texas, Austin
• Kalina Hristova, John Hopkins University
• Julie Forman-Kay, SickKids / University of Toronto
• Voula Kanelis, University of Toronto Mississauga
• Sabrina Leslie, McGill University
• Matthew Lew, Washington University in St. Louis
• Justin MacCallum, University of Calgary
• Lisa Manning, Syracuse University
• Andrew Pelling, University of Ottawa
• Régis Pomès, SickKids / University of Toronto
• Scott Prosser, University of Toronto Mississauga
• Jon Rocheleau, University of Toronto
• Christopher Rowley, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Andrew Rutenberg, Dalhousei University
• Joan-Emma Shea, UC Santa Barbara
• Gary Slater, University of Ottawa
• Andrea Soranno, Washington University in St. Louis
• Suzana Straus, University of British Columbia
• Jenifer Thewalt, Simon Fraser University
• Danielle Tokarz, Saint Mary's University
• Edral Toprak, UT Southwestern
• Paul Wiseman, McGill University
• Michael Woodside, University of Alberta
• Haw Yang, Princeton University
• Christopher Yip, University of Toronto
• Anton Zilman, University of Toronto

FULL PROGRAM

Download the full program for BSC 2019 here

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