Newsletter #4. AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY FOR BIOPHYSICS www address: http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/ASB/ ================================================ ITEM 1: A Retiring Treasurer. Mary Beilby has decided to retire as treasurer after giving much of her time to the Society. I think I can speak on behalf of the Society in saying a sincere thank you to her for her many years of Treasured service. She will be replaced by Brett Hambly who can be contacted as follows: Phone (02) 3513059; Fax (02) 3513429; email bretth@pathology.su.oz.au Postal address is: Department of Pathology, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2006. Changes to State Reps: Paul Smith is off to London and will be the Society's representative in Europe. We wish him well at University College. Wendy Russell has moved to NSW (see below) and Ann Atkins has agreed to take over her duties as Queensland State Rep. ================================================ ITEM 2: Academic movements: Frances Separovic has accepted the position of Reader/Associate Professor in teh Department of Chemistry at The University of Melbourne. Her new contact phone,fax and email are now on the web page (see above). Wendy Russell has accepted the position of Associate Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong, NSW 2522. She can be contact on: Ph: 61 7 3654693; Fax: 61 7 3651699; Email: wendyr@uow.edu.au Congratulation to them both. NB: The second YOUNG BIOPHYSICIST AWARD will be adjudicated at this meeting so get those nominations ready please (Wendy Russell was last year's winner and will use her funds to attend a Gordon Conference this year). Candidates must be a member of the Society of at least 12 months standing and be an author on a presentation at the meeting at which the award is decided. For more information look on the web page ================================================ ITEM 3: Scientific meetings. Our web page has contact with several overseas Biophysical Societies and links to these societies are provided on our web page. -------------------- The 1996 Meeting of ASB is to be held from 4-6 July 1996 At the Physics Department of the University of Tasmania , Hobart, Tasmania Australia and organised by the Biophysics group . Registration information is now available. NB STUDENTS: Please register by the required date. Students seeking travel support for this meeting should ensure that their supervisors indicate on their registration that they are bona fide students. A Microsoft WORD-6 (PC) version of the complete documentation is also available. The complete documentation is also available as a postscript file. You may download this information & registration file, choosing the option to save it to your local disk and then send it to a postscript printer loaded with A4 paper. The web site for these details is: http://physics_1.phys.utas.edu.au/PHYSICS/ASB96/ Ian Newman's email is: ian.newman@phys.utas.edu.au -------------------- The Second East Asian Symposium on Biophysics will be held in Beijing, P.R. China on May 19-23. This meeting is sponsored by the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophyiscs (IUPAB) East Asian Biophysical Symposium Committee. I have a limited number of First Anouncement brochures. Please email me if you would like one. Furhter details can be obtained from the Symposium Secretariat of the Biophysical Society of China: zhuxm@mimi.cnc.ac.cn -------------------- There will be a Joint British/Australian Biophysical Societies' Conference (with support from the Biochemical Society) BIOMEMBRANE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION (Satellite meeting to the IUPAB Congress in Amsterdam August 11-16, 1996) Dates: The conference will start with lunch on Sunday, 18th August and finish with the Conference Banquet on Tuesday, 20th August, 1996 Programme Topics: Receptors and structure: Diffusion in membranes and liposomes: Ion channels: Pumps and transporters: Format: 3 sessions per day - 2 with talks and 1 with posters. Speakers: U.K.: S. Baldwin (London), R. Cherry (Essex), R. Cogdell (Glasgow), J.B.C. Findlay* (Leeds), P. Henderson (Leeds), R. Henderson (Cambridge), A.G. Lee (Southampton), M. Sansom (Oxford), G. Schertler (Cambridge), B. Wallace (London), A. Watts (Oxford). Australia: H. Coster* (Sydney), P. Kuchel* (Sydney), R. Pace (Canberra), M. Parker (Melbourne), W. Sawyer* (Melbourne), R. Smith (Brisbane), L.A. Tilley (Bundoora), J. Varghese* (CSIRO). * to be confirmed Support Organizations: British Biophysical Society, Australian Biophysical Society, Biochemical Society (Membranes and Techniques Groups) Organiser: Dr A. Watts, Department of Biochemistry, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU Fax: 44 1865 275234; E-mail: eliz@bioch.ox.ac.uk Registration: Registration fee: for early registration before 14th June 1996 - 80.00 for late registration after 14th June 1996 - Â*90.00. The registration fee covers lunches and refreshments throughout the conference. Graduate students are entitled to a reduction of Â*40.00. For provisional registration, the completed registration form can either be sent by e-mail or printed out and sent by fax; a provisional place will be held for three weeks from date of booking. Final registration should be sent by regular mail together with accommodation costs and registration fee. Registration fee and accommodation costs should be paid in full by one of the following methods: Â* sterling cheque made payable to "Membranes Meeting"; or, Money order (in Â* sterling) payable to "Membranes Meeting"; or, Bank transfer to (details to be included here shortly) Travel funding: Student travel grants are available, for partial support only, for both UK and Australian students. Those wishing to apply should complete the appropriate section of the registration form. Venue: St Catherine's College, Oxford University. Accommodation: There is ample accommodation at St Catherine's College (the Conference venue) for delegates and accompanying adults which should be booked before 15th July 1996. In addition, Oxford has a range of hotels of all standards available within 2 miles of the City centre. Social Programme: A social programme will be arranged to include, for example, Blenheim Palace (the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill), a tour of the Oxford Colleges, punting on the River Cherwell (a tributary of the River Thames), and an organ recital in one of the College chapels. There will also be conference banquet on the evening of Tuesday 20th August. -------------------- ITEM 4: WORKSHOP on FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY: Bill Sawyer and I are organizing a workshop on fluorescence spectroscopy. It is intended that this workshop will take the topic from a very basic level to advanced techniques. The probable dates are: January 31-February 3, immediately before the Lorne Protein Conference ( Feb 4-8). We will keep you informed about progress with this hands-on workshop. If you are interested in attending this workshop, we would like to hear from you: Bill Sawyer: sawyer@biochemistry.unimelb.edu.au Cris dos Remedios: crisdos@anatomy.su.oz.au -------------------- I am always interested in items for these Newsletters. Cris dos Remedios President, ASB URL:http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/~mru