FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 9, 2014 Contact: Ellen Weiss [email protected] Biophysical Society Announces Winners of 2015 International Travel Awards Rockville, MD— The Biophysical Society has announced the winners of its international travel grants to attend the Biophysical Society’s 59th Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, February 7-11, 2015. The purpose of these awards is to foster and initiate further interaction between American biophysicists and scientists working in countries experiencing financial difficulties. Recipients of this competitive award are chosen based on scientific merit and their proposed presentation at the meeting. They will be honored at a reception on Sunday, February 8 at the Baltimore Convention Center. The 2015 recipients of the International Travel Award, along with their institutional affiliation and abstract title, are: Sherif Abbas, Middle East Technical University, Turkey, EFFECT OF MOLECULAR CROWDING ON THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF HUMAN APO AND HOLO TRANSFERRIN USING 2D-IR CORRELATION SPECTROSCOPY; Ariel Afek, Ben-Gurion University, Israel, PROTEIN-DNA BINDING IN THE ABSENCE OF CONSENSUS BINDING MOTIF; Araitz Alberdi, University of the Basque Country, DISRUPTION OF ASSEMBLY/CALMODULIN-BINDING COUPLING AND CALMODULINDEPENDENT POTENTIATION OF Kv7.2 CHANNELS BY A EPILEPTOGENIC HELIX D MUTATION; Natalia D. Andersen, CONICET Bahia Blanca, Argentina, EXPLORING ALPHA7 POSITIVE ALLOSTERIC MODULATORS FROM A SINGLECHANNEL PERSPECTIVE; Marcelo T. Augusto, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Portugal, ENHANCED HIV FUSION INHIBITORS EFFICACY REQUIRES MEMBRANE AFFINITY AND EXPOSURE OF THE POCKET BINDING DOMAIN OF C34 DERIVATIVES; Aritra Bej, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, BACKBONE DYNAMICS MODULATES THE AMYLOIDOGENIC PROPENSITY OF TRANSTHYRETIN THROUGH NON-NATIVE INTERMEDIATES; Ganeko Bernardo-Seisdedos, University of the Basque Country, Spain, CALMODULIN BINDING TO A NOVEL SITE IN THE AB MODULE OF Kv7.2 SUBUNITS REGULATES SURFACE EXPRESSION; Debipreeta Bhowmik, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, TARGETING HUMAN TELOMERIC G-QUADRUPLEX DNA BY BERBERINE ANALOGS: A COMPARATIVE BIOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATION; Anwesha Biswas, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, STUDYING LIGAND BINDING AND SITE-SPECIFIC MODE OF DNA BINDING BY GAMMA-BUTYROLACTONE RECEPTOR PROTEIN CPRB FROM STREPTOMYCES COELICOLOR A3(2) USING TWO DIFFERENT FLUORESCENCE TECHNIQUES; Alessandro Borgia, University of Zurich, Switzerland, SURPRISING ABUNDANCE OF MISFOLDING DURING REFOLDING OF MULTIDOMAIN PROTEINS; Michal Cifra, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, MICROTUBULE ELECTRODYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH VIBRATIONAL NORMAL MODES; Charles D. Cox, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Australia, PROBING THE MECHANOSENSITIVITY OF PIEZO1 CHANNELS; Silvia Cruz-Rangel, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, EXTRACELLULAR CHLORIDE REGULATES TMEM16A GATING; Istvan Csomos, University of Debrecen, Hungary, CHELIDONINE INTERFERES WITH IL6R/STAT3 SIGNALING IN UVEAL MELANOMA CELLS; Nicole Beard, University of Canberra, Australia, DOXORUBICIN ALTERS CARDIOMYOCYTE CALCIUM REGULATION AND STIMULATES MITOCHONDRIAL SUPEROXIDE FLASH PRODUCTION; Kim Dung T. Doan, Osaka University, Japan, MULTIMODAL IMAGING PROBING PLATFORM BASED ON UPCONVERTING RARE-EARTH DOPED Gd2O3 NANOCRYSTALS; Alenka Guček, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, FUSION PROPERTIES OF GLIOTRANSMITTER VESICLES IN CULTURED ASTROCYTES; Sabeeha Hasnain, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL FOR E.COLI CYTOPLASM: DIFFUSION AND HYDRODYNAMICS; Alberto Hidalgo, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, BIOPHISICAL EVALUATION OF DRUG IMPACT ON PULMONARY SURFACTANT PERFORMANCE; Emiliano Perez Ipiña, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, CONCENTRATION ESTIMATES FROM COUNTING INDIVIDUAL MOLECULES; Daniel Klose, University of Osnabrück, Germany, LIGHT-INDUCED SWITCHING OF HAMP DOMAIN CONFORMATION AND DYNAMICS REVEALED BY TIME-RESOLVED EPR SPECTROSCOPY; Jessica Köth, University of Cologne, Germany, VENTRICULAR L-TYPE CA2+ CHANNELS AND EXPRESSION OF RGK PROTEINS IN MOUSE MODELS ASSOCIATED WITH DIABETES; Jozef A. Liwo, University of Gdansk, Poland, A NOVEL METHOD FOR FORCE-FIELD CALIBRATION BASED ON MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD APPROACH AND THERMAL UNFOLDING DATA; José R. López-Blanco, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Spain, INTEGRATIVE MODELING APPROACHES TO INTERPRET HIGH-RESOLUTION CRYO-EM RECONSTRUCTIONS; Ainara López-Córdoba, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Spain, SICM-BASED NANODELIVERY SYSTEM FOR LOCAL TRPV1 STIMULATION; Andrea Magrì, University of Catania, Italy, THE OVEREXPRESSION OF SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE 1 RESTORES GROWTH DEFECT IN A PORIN1-LESS YEAST STRAIN AND IMPROVES MITOCHONDRIAL METABOLISM; Maria J. Marques-Carvalho, University of Porto, Portugal, INTERACTION OF CALMODULIN WITH THE EAG1 POTASSIUM CHANNEL; Tânia Patrícia Marques de Sousa, University of Lisbon, Portugal, THE CYTOTOXIC BILE ACID DCA MODULATES APOPTOTIC SIGNALLING THROUGH ALTERATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL MEMBRANE PROPERTIES; Valeria Marquez-Miranda, Andrés Bello National University, Chile, COARSE-GRAINED MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS OF THE SELF-ASSEMBLY OF AMPHIPHILIC DENDRIMERS AS GENE CARRIERS; Dominic Narang, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, THE ROLE OF STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS IN DETERMINING THE PRION STRAIN DIVERSITY; Jonathan E. Pacheco, National Autonomous University of Mexico, IDENTIFICATION OF A CHOLESTEROL RECOGNITION/INTERACTION AMINO ACID CONSENSUS DOMAIN IN STIM1 AND ITS ROLE IN SOCE; Jyotsana J. Parmar, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, NUCLEOSOME KINETICS AND ACCESIBILITY OF DNA; Francesca Pennacchietti, Italian Institute of Technology, QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF ANCHORING PROTEINS OF THE INHIBITORY SYNAPSE THROUGH SINGLE MOLECULE LOCALIZATION TECHNIQUES; Chiara Peres, Italian Institute of Technology, 3 COLOR - 3 DIMENSIONAL STED NANOSCOPY; Cibele Rocha-Resende, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, IMPAIRMENT IN ACETYLCHOLINE RELEASE BY CARDIOMYOCYTES LEADS TO ENHANCED PATHOLOGICAL HYPERTROPHY; Marianne Ruud, University of Oslo, Norway, REGULATION OF CARDIOMYOCYTE TTUBULE ORGANIZATION AND DENSITY BY VENTRICULAR WALL STRESS; Maria Ryazantseva, Russian Academy of Sciences, POSSIBLE ROLE OF STIM1 SENSOR SIGNAL IN MEMORY LOSS CONNECTED WITH FAMILIAL ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE; Giuseppe Sancataldo, Italian Institute of Technology, LIGHT SHEET FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY (LSFM) FOR TWO-PHOTON EXCITATION IMAGING OF THICK SAMPLES; Likhesh Sharma, Indian Institute of Science, ENGINEERING THE CYSTEINE MOTIF ‘CXXC’ INTO A PROTEIN IMPARTS IT NOVEL PROPERTIES; David V. Svintradze, Tbilisi State University, Georgia, MOVING MACROMOLECULAR SURFACES UNDER HYDROPHOBIC/HYDROPHILIC STRESS; Algirdas Toleikis, National Institute for Medical Research, United Kingdom, INITIATION OF ASYMMETRIC ROLLING-CIRCLE PLASMID REPLICATION BY REPD STUDIED USING MAGNETIC TWEEZERS; Yolima P. Torres, Pontifical Xavierian University, Colombia, MENTHOL-INDUCED CHANGES IN MESENCHYMAL STEM CELL DIFFERENTIATION; Dilek Yonar, Middle East Technical University, Turkey, A NOVEL METHOD FOR EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF MALIGNANT PLEURAL MESOTHELIOMA FROM HUMAN SERUM SAMPLES: ATR-FTIR SPECTROSCOPY; and Belinda K. Wright, University of Western Sydney, Australia, REAL-TIME ANALYSIS OF ENDOGENOUS NUCLEAR NADH IN DIFFERENTIATING CELLS USING THE SPECTRAL PHASOR APPROACH. The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific Society established to encourage development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its annual meeting, monthly journal, and committee and outreach activities. Its 9000 members are located throughout the U.S. and the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry. For more information on these awards, the Society, or the 2015 Annual Meeting, visit www.biophysics.org.