The Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB) represents researchers, teachers, and others with an interest in the application of physical and physicochemical methods to the study of biological systems. The first meeting of the Society was held in 1975 and the 31st Annual Conference was held in December 2008 at Newcastle, north of Sydney. The Society has a long-standing tradition of encouraging young biophysicists, and this is reflected in the presentation of student poster and student travel awards at the annual conference, as well as the presentation of the Young Biophysicist Award. The Society also strongly encourages young investigators to make oral presentations at the annual conference. The Society has forged strong links with foreign biophysical societies, including the 1995 Annual Conference held in conjunction with the British Biophysical Society, a joint meeting in Hawaii with the Japanese and US Biophysical Societies on the Molecular Interactions of Actin; and ASB is a founding member of the Asian Biophysics Association (ABA). ASB has played a significant role in the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB), with several members being elected to Council, and we will host IUPAB 2014 in Brisbane. For more information on ASB, please email any member of the Executive Council.

Professor Boris Martinac FAA

Cardiac Research Unit, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

Boris Martinac has been elected to AAS. A leading membrane biophysicist, he is known for his pioneering studies of ion channels in microbes, particularly the discovery, cloning and structural and functional characterisation of mechanosensitive ion channels in bacteria.

Congratulations Boris on behalf of all members of the Australian Society for Biophysics.

Meetings

See the Meetings page for details of upcoming biophysical meetings and symposia.

The 37th Annual Conference of the Australian Society for Biophysics
is to be at RMIT from Sunday 24 to Wednesday 27 November 2013, chaired by Gary Bryant, gary.bryant@rmit.edu.au

Australia to host IUPAB 2014 International Biophysics Congress in Brisbane!

Careers in Biophysics:

Job Listings, a service from The Australian Society for Biophysics. To list your ad, contact jobs@biophysics.org.au.

A resource from the US Biophysical Society about Careers in Biophysics is on line. See http://www.biophysics.org/careers.htm for details.

Putative changes in the M2 domain selectivity filter region of the glycine receptor-channel (GlyR) with mutations that reverse ion selectivity (from the Issue Cover figure and Fig. of Keramidas et al. (2002) J. Gen. Physiol. 119: 393-410). This region in the anion-selective wild type alpha 1 GlyR subunit (top) is shown having a partially hydrated Cl- ion closely interacting with the positive arginine residues (R0'), with a small minimum pore diameter, whereas in the cation-selective mutant GlyR (with A-1'E and P-2'; bottom), with the larger minimum pore diameter, it is shown as having a more hydrated Na+ ion interacting with negative glutamate residues.

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Last updated on 8 April 2013