2010 Biophysical Society

Today I went to a number of talks. I began at the symposium on Amyloids in Human Disease. I enjoyed hearing about the different ways that people study this important topic. I particularly liked Charles Glabe’s talk on “Structural Diversity of amyloid Oligomers,” which did a great job of differentiating between amyloids at their different stages (pre-fibrillar oligomers, Fibrillar oligomers, and Fibrils). After a much needed snack break, in which I managed to secure one of the precious annual Avanti t-shirts, I moved onto the Interfacial Protein-Lipid Interactions platform. I only stayed for the first 3 talks, but they were all very interesting. As someone who works with a peptide-membrane system, I know very little about membranes in general, so these talks provided me with some much needed background information.

I made it to the last couple talks in the Physical Chemistry of Proteins and Nucleic Acids, which was nice to hear more about techniques with which I am more familiar. After a good lunch at Luna Azul in the Metreon (I would give it a 3.5/5, and no I did not make the face this time), we spent a significant amount of time getting free stuff the vendors and checking out the posters. It was nice to see such a range of research interests all in one room, but still be able to learn about specific topics if you so desired.

The final platform of the day that I attended was Membrane Structure I. Again, it was nice to hear authorities on the topic of membrane structure talk about their research. The talks by Amirmohamad Keyvanloo, Iris van Uitert, and Liana Silva were particularly informative for the current problems I am trying to solve on my own research project.