Biophysical Society MARCH/APRIL 2006 NEWSLETTER
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NEWSLETTER MARCH/APRIL 2006 ISSUE SALT LAKE CITY ANNUAL MEETING SUMMARY Annual Meeting Summary . 1 Discussions . 1 & 19 No one promised summer weather for the Society’s 50th Annual Meeting in Biophysicist in Profile . 2 Salt Lake City, so it came as no surprise that February 18-22 saw a confluence Membrane Structure & Assembly. 4 of winter events: snowstorms on the east coast, high winds in the central Bioenergetics. 4 states, record snows in Salt Lake City. Together they held up flights, stranded Membrane Biophysics. 5 passengers, and made travel to the BPS Annual Meeting an adventure! The Permeation/Transport . 5 5,000 attendees were rewarded with an exciting scientific program, a beautiful Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. 6 setting in a welcoming city, and a myriad of activities. International Relations . 6 Minority Affairs . 7 CPOW Report . 8 SRAA Competition. 12 BOARD AND COUNCIL MEETINGS Student Symposium & Fair . 12 Public Affairs . 13 The Society’s Executive Board and Council met dur- Call for Editor-in-Chief . 16 ing the Annual Meeting. Many of the decisions made and discussions held during those meetings are described within the committee and subgroup reports found throughout this newsletter. Below is a summary of major Board and Council actions not described elsewhere. 2006 Biophysical Society • Approved a joint effort with the American Discussions Physical Society’s Division of Biological Physics Suzanne Scarlata (APS/DBP) whereby the DBP will plan one sympo- Molecular Motors: sium for the BPS Annual Meeting and the BPS will Point Counterpoint plan one symposium for the APS March meeting. • Approved the Landmark Paper Project, with Adrian Parseggian as Chair. The project’s goal is Application deadline: May 1, 2006 www.biophysics.org to select a list of seminal papers in key areas of bio- physics and develop commentaries for each area. • Elected two members of Council to serve Asilomar Conference Center two-year terms (2006-2008) on the Executive Board. Asilomar, California Suzanne Scarlata, of Stony Brook University, and David Piston, of Vanderbilt Unviersity, were elected October 19-22, 2006 to succeed outgoing Board members Clara Attendance limited. Franzini-Armstrong and Justin Molloy. David Piston For full program information (Continued on page 17.) see page 19. Mark Your Calenders for the Biophysical Society’s 2007 Annual Meeting! March 3 – 7 in Baltimore, Maryland Biophysicist in Profile Despite his father’s hope that Barry would follow him into medicine, the younger Lentz “always wanted to be a scientist.” He received his first chemistry set in the fifth grade, which he used to build 9650 Rockville Pike rockets and stink bombs. As he grew more Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3998 Tel: 301-634-7114; Fax: 301-634-7133 adept at these activities, the neighbors and E-mail: [email protected] http://www.biophysics.org/ his mother grew more impatient, so he turned his focus to academic science. By Officers President ninth grade, Lentz was staying after school Barry R. Lentz daily to help the teacher set up for class and President-Elect discuss advances in physics. “I carried Joesph Falke Past-President a briefcase, was 5’2” and chubby,” he Steven M. Block says about his younger years, admitt- Secretary ing sports were not his strong suit. Ruth A. Altschuld Barry Lentz Treasurer In eighth grade, a career guidance test Mordecai P. Blaustein indicated his future lay in auto-mechanics. Council Barry Lentz is often recognized by the “They said I liked to understand how Paul H. Axelsen broad-rimmed western-style hats he wears. things work,” explains Lentz. Barry remains Stephen M. Baylor fascinated with “how things work,” includ- Christopher L. Berger But those who know him well also Richard G. Brennan recognize him for the many hats he wears ing automobiles, but the mechanics he’s Sharona E. Gordon in his professional and personal life. now passionate about are the mechanics of Kathleen Hall cells and biomolecules. Eric Jakobsson Currently he is a professor and Director Linda J. Kenney of Biophysics at the University of North Lentz attended the University of Elizabeth A. Komives Carolina, a mentor and research director for Pennsylvania because his father was willing Ben de Kruijff his laboratory colleagues who work on the to pay for his son to attend the family Stephen L. Mayo Tobias Meyer mechanism of membrane fusion and on the school and enter the “family profession.” Ruth Nussinov role of lipids in regulating blood coagula- His pre-med/chemistry major led to a Diane M. Papazian tion, an Associate Editor of the Cell Bachelor of Arts in 1966, however, rather Nils Petersen David Piston Biophysics Section of Biophysical Journal, then a Bachelor of Sciences. Pre-med Eduardo Rios and now, President of the Biophysical required many classes outside math and sci- Frederick Sachs Society. Equally important, he is a husband ence, which instilled in Barry a love for his- Suzanne Scarlata tory, music, art, and philosophy. He did, Paul R. Selvin of 40 years, a father, and seven times a R. John Solaro grandfather! He describes himself as a per- however, find time to take undergraduate Lynmarie K. Thompson son who can’t turn and graduate Biophysical Journal away when he thinks physical chem- Editor-in-Chief he can make a differ- “Nobody thought Biophysics istry courses, Robert Callender ence, and he brings would amount to a hill which turned out Executive Officer passion to everything to be his favorite Ro Kampman he does. of beans . .” classes. “If I had Publications Manager to do it over Dianne McGavin Son of John and Florence Lentz, Barry was born on again,” says Lentz, Newsletter Production Alisha Yocum September 2, 1944, in Philadelphia. His “I’d do exactly what I did and earn a BA because of all I learned.” Profiles father, an alumnus of the University of Lee Bien Pennsylvania, was a physician and on the After graduating from college and sur- Public Affairs staff at Penn’s Philadelphia General viving a mistake by his draft board that Ellen Weiss Hospital. His mother worked in store secu- would have sent him to Vietnam, Barry The Biophysical Society Newsletter rity as a detective, and now at 93, lives just headed directly to graduate school at (ISSN 0006-3495) is published six times Cornell University to study Biophysical per year January/February, March/April, ten minutes away from Lentz and his wife May/June, July/August, September/ Charlotte. After adopting Barry, his parents Chemistry. There he worked with Harold October, and November/December by the Biophysical Society, 9650 Rockville had two children, Deborah and Don. Don Scheraga. Because no one else in Scheraga’s Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3998. runs a four-star French restaurant in upstate group of roughly 35 people was working on Distributed to USA members and other countries at no cost. Canadian GST No. New York, while Deborah now teaches in water structure, Lentz had the privilege of 898477062. Postmaster: Send address Seattle. working closely with Scheraga throughout changes to Biophysical Society, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814- his graduate career. “Harold is a granddad- 3998. dy of protein biophysics and was a master at Copyright © 2006 by the Biophysical Society. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. MARCH/APRIL 2006 NEWSLETTER seeing to the heart of an issue and asking fluorometer and an old Zeiss spectropho- and deans that it would be beneficial to tough questions, “Lentz explains, “I learned tometer, provided them with car batteries train students in this interdisciplinary field. a great deal from him.” Upon earning his for power supplies, and modified the fluo- “Nobody thought Biophysics would PhD at Cornell in 1973, Barry traveled rometer to do polarization measurements. amount to a hill of beans,” Barry states. south to the University of Virginia (UVA) Thus was the Lentz lab was born! Over the next 15 years, Lentz worked tire- to join Tommy Thompson’s lab as a lessly to recruit faculty and students, postdoc. “UVA was the center of and now he is proud to say that membrane biophysics at that time,” “The things I’m most proud of are the UNC’s biophysics program “is one says Lentz. He refers to his two years things most people still don’t believe” of the best in the country.” in Charlottesville as his “Camelot Along the way, Lentz has earned years.” a reputation as a tough but fair men- While with Thompson, a former After two years on NSF’s Biophysics tor. “He could be tough but was always President of Biophysical Society, Lentz Panel and four years on NIH’s very considerate,” explains Moore, “and began attending Society meetings. “I told Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Cell Biology always found time to listen and work with him that everyone who is a serious bio- Study Section, Barry turned his attention to the student through problems both aca- physicist must join the Society,” says building biophysics at UNC, which turned demic and personal.” Moore, who is now Thompson. As a family man with three out to be a slow process. “We were simply Vice President of Product Development & young children, Barry did not actively par- overjoyed to move our lab from the dun- Technology for Medtronic’s New Therapies ticipate in the Society during his early geon of MacNider to the modern facilities and Diagnostic Management Organization, career; however, it quickly became his intel- of the Faculty Laboratory Office Building notes that “it was quickly apparent that lectual home. As time passed, he served on (now Mary Ellen Jones building) and to Barry is a very compassionate and caring the leadership committee and became chair keep getting sufficient funding to keep the person.” The relationships he has formed of the Membrane Structure and Assembly lab going,” explains Barrow, who is now with his students lasting long after the stu- Subgroup.