Silvia Cavagnero, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison organized a SACNAS virtual biophysics symposium on October 21, 2020. Sponsored by the Biophysical Society Committee for Inclusion and Diversity (CID). This session emphasized the importance of protein design and how it is vital to public health. Additionally, the symposium also explained how the Biophysical Society, a global organization dedicated in bringing biophysicists together, is a key player in the dissemination and development of knowledge in the field of biophysics. The speakers of the SACNAS session, listed below, are leaders in the protein design field:

Vatsan Raman, an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Madison-Wisconsin

Tanja Kortemme, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of California, San Francisco

David Lynn, Professor of Chemistry and Biology at Emory University

David Baker, Professor of Biochemistry and the University of Washington, Seattle.

The presentations by the above speakers highlighted how recent cutting-edge advances in protein design can nowadays be exploited to kill bacteria, design biosensors, combat neurodegenerative disease and even target + inactivate the COVID-19 virus.

Did you attend the biophysics symposium? Let us know by commenting below or tweet us! We can’t wait for the 2021 SACNAS National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri!