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Subgroups

As the Biophysical Society continues to grow, the Society's Subgroups allow members to meet and interact within more focused areas in smaller groups. Subgroups hold scientific symposia and business meetings each year on the Saturday that starts the Annual Meeting. They also sponsor several awards, including the Student Research Achievement Awards (SRAA) Poster Competition. Membership to the Society's Subgroups is open to all members.

Channels, Receptors & Transporters

(formerly Membrane Biophysics)



The Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup (formerly Membrane Biophysics) promotes the exchange of ideas and information pertaining to the study of biological membranes. Subgroup members pursue research in a variety of areas including the structure, function and regulation of channels and transporters, ligand-receptor interactions, signal transduction mechanisms, protein trafficking and secretory mechanisms. Each year the subgroup sponsors a symposium highlighting an area of membrane biophysics. The symposium is followed by a dinner at which the K.S. Cole Award in Membrane Biophysics is presented to a person who is deemed to have made seminal contributions to the field, followed by a short address by the recipient. Membership in the subgroup is open to all members of the Biophysical Society.

Join the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup Kenneth S. Cole Award

 

In order to join the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup, you must be a member of the Society.

Renae Ryan, Chair (2024-2025)

Juan Du, Chair-Elect (2024-2025)

Jerome Lacroix, Secretary-Treasurer (2023-2025)

 

2024 Hiro Furukawa Cold Spring Harbor Lab
2023 Jorge E. Contreras University of California Davis 
2022 Vera Moiseenkova-Bell University of Pennsylvania
2021 Lucia Sivilotti University College London, UK
2020 Crina Nimigean Weill Cornell Medicine
2019 Andrew Plested Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP)
2018 Jose Faraldo-Gomez NIH
2017 Teresa Giraldez Universidad de La Laguna, Spain
2016  Alessio Accardi Weill Cornell Medical College
2015 Baron Chanda University of Wisconsin, Madison
2014  Henry Colecraft Columbia University 
2013 Diomedes Logothetis Virginia Commonwealth University
2012 Paul Slesinger Salk Institute
2011 Stephen Tucker University of Oxford, UK
2010 Dan Minor University of California, San Francisco
2009 Criss Hartzell Emory University School of Medicine
2008 Eitan Reuveny Weizmann Institutes of Science, Israel
2007 Nael A. McCarty Emory University School of Medicine
2006 David Yue Johns Hopkins University
2005 Deborah Nelson University of Chicago
2004 Colin Nichols Washington University School of Medicine
2003 Barbara Ehrlich Yale University School of Medicine
2002 Robert French University of Calgary
2001 Lynne Quarmby Simon Fraser University
2000 David C. Dawson Oregon Health Science University
1999 Sarah S. Garber University of Chicago Medical School
1998 Joseph R. Hume University of Nevada Medical School
1997 Carol Vandenberg University of California, Santa Barbara
1996 Douglas C. Eaton Emory University 
1995 Barbara Ehrlich Yale University School of Medicine
1994 John M. Russell Syracuse University
1993 Richard Aldrich Stanford University School of Medicine
1992 David L. Gadsby Rockefeller University
1991 Kurt Beam  Colorado State University
1990 Michael L. Jennings University of Arkansas
1989 Jack H. Kaplan University of Illinois, Chicago
1988 Alan Kleinfeld Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies
1987 Douglas C. Eaton Emory University
1986 Peter K. Lauf Wright State University School of Medicine
1985 Nicholas Sperelakis University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
1984 John Cook University of Tennessee
1983 Adil Shamoo University of Maryland School of Medicine
1982 George Sachs University of California, Los Angeles
1981 George Sachs University of California, Los Angeles
1980 Robert Blumenthal National Institutes of Health
1979 Richard Pagano Mayo Clinic & Foundation
1978 Stephen H. White University of California, Irvine
1977 Charles F. Stevens Salk Institute for Biological Studies
1976 Clay M. Armstrong University of Pennsylvania
1975 David E. Goldman Medical College of Pennsylvania
1974 Peter F. Curran Yale University
1973 Warren Rehm University of Louisville
1972 J. Walter Woodbury University of Utah

2024 Symposium

Saturday, February 10, 2024
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/p>

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2023 Symposium

Saturday, February 18, 2023
San Diego, California

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2022 Symposium

Saturday, February 19, 2022
San Francisco, California

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2021 Symposium

Saturday, February 22, 2021
Virtual

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2020 Symposium

Saturday, February 15, 2020
San Diego, California

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2019 Symposium

Saturday, March 2, 2019
Baltimore, Maryland

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2018 Symposium

Saturday, February 17, 2018
San Francisco, California

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2017 Symposium

Saturday, February 11, 2017
New Orleans, Louisiana

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2016 Symposium

Saturday, February 27, 2016
Los Angeles, California

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2015 Symposium

Saturday, February 27, 2015
Baltimore, Maryland

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2014 Symposium

Saturday, February 15, 2014
San Francisco, California

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2013 Symposium

Saturday, February 2, 2013
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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2024 Multiversatility of Macromolecules in Chemical Sensing
2023 Taking a Close Look at Large-Pore Channels
2022 Ion Channels and Transporters as Targets for Structure-Based Drug Design
2021 Are They Always There? Lipids and Ions as Modulators of Ion Channel Function (and Structure)
2020 Ion Channel and Receptor Pharmacology: Insights from Correlating CryoEM Structures with Functional Data
2019 Signal integration in dendrites and other membranes
2018 Dissecting the thermodynamics of channels & transporters through the unholy matrimony of experiment & computation
2017 Sensors
2016 Unusual Mechanisms in Membrane Transport
2015  Modern Perspective of Allostery in Ion Channels 
2014  Necessary (Accessory) Subunits of Ion Channels: What They Do and How They Do It 
2013 Macromolecular Complexes of Ion Channels and Transporters
2011 Single Molecule Approaches to Ion Channel Structure
2010 Ion Channel Chemical Biology
2009  Ion Channels with Borderline Personalities
2008 Channel Gating Modifiers and Modulators
2007 Reducing Reductionist Thinking: Biophysical Approaches to the Study of Membrane Protein Assemblies
2006 Horizons for the Queen of Ion Transport: CaV Calcium Channels
2005 Intracellular Ion Channels: Trafficking, Regulation, and Function
2004 Ion Channel Gating
2003 Protein Partners in the Regulation of Intracellular Calcium: No Singles Allowed
2002 Molecular Motions Underlying Ion Channel Gating
2001 Calcium Signaling
2000 Physical Basis of Ion Selectivity: From Bias to Recognition
1999 Ion Channels and the Cytoskeleton
1998 Structure and Function of CLC Chloride Channels
1997 Ion Channels: Structure and Function
1996 Mechanisms of Cellular Signaling
1995 Probing the Pore of Ion Channels
1994 Chloride Channels: Diversity in Form and Function
1993 Molecular and Biophysical Properties of Calcium-activated Potassium Channels
1992 Transducer Molecules of Cell Membranes
1991 n/a
1990 Kinetic Studies of Membrane Functions
1989 Ion Transport across Biomembranes
1988 Lipid Transfer between Membranes and Vesicles
1987 Cellular Polarity: Intracellular Sorting and Membrane Insertion
1986 Chemical Modification and Probes of Major Ion Transport Pathways
1985 Properties of Single Ion Channels as Revealed by Patch Clamp Studies
1984 Mechanisms Underlying Membrane Fusion
1983 Molecular Mechanisms of Hormonal Reculations of Ion Transport
1982 Plasma Membrane Pumps
1981 Eyring Models in Membrane Science
1980 Assembly of Proteins into Biological Membranes
1979 Organization, Dynamics, and Metabolism of Cell Surface Lipids
1978 Interactions between Membrane Components
1977 Local Anesthetic Effects on Ionic and Molecular Motions in Membranes
1976 Joint Photobiology - Membrane Group Symposium
1975 Recent Studies on Membrane Structure
1974 Physical and Chemical Probes of Membrane Structure and Function
1973  Membranes: Recent Advances 
1972  Molecular Mechanisms for Ion Selectivity in Membrane Transport Processes 

2024 Benoit Roux University of Chicago
2023 Emily Liman University of Southern California
2022 Henry Colecraft Columbia University
2021 Richard S. Lewis Stanford University
2020 Eduardo Perozo University of Chicago
2019 Gail A. Robertson University of Wisconsin-Madison
2018 Olga Boudker Weill Cornell Medical College 
2017 Kenton J. Swartz National Institutes of Health
2016 Roderick MacKinnon  Rockefeller University 
2015 Walter Stuhmer Max Planck Institute
  William Catterall University of Washington
  Todd Scheuer University of Washington
2014 David Julius University of California, San Francisco
2013 Frederick Sachs University of Buffalo, State University of New York
2012 Meyer Jackson University of Wisconsin, Madison
2011 David T. Yue Johns Hopkins University
2010 Ehud Isacoff University of California, Berkeley
2009 Karl L. Magleby University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
2008 William N. Zagotta University of Washington
2007 Henry A. Lester California Institute of Technology
2006 Edwin W. McCleskey Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University
2005 Barbara E. Ehrlich Yale University
2004 Lily Yeh Jan University of California, San Francisco, HHMI
  Yuh Nung Jan University of California, San Francisco, HHMI
2003 Gary Yellen Harvard Medical School
2002 Kurt Beam Colorado State University
2001 Mike Cahalan University of California, Irvine
2000 Richard Horn Thomas Jefferson Medical College
1999 Olaf Andersen Weill Medical College of Cornell University
1998 W. J. Lederer Medical Biotechnology Center UMBI
1997 Fred Sigworth Yale University School of Medicine
1996 David Clapham Mayo Foundation
1995 David Gadsby Rockefeller University
1994 Richard W. Aldrich Stanford University School of Medicine
1993 Harald Reuter University of Bern
1992 Wolfhard Almers Oregon Health Science University
1991 James Hudspeth Rockefeller University, HHMI
1990 Francisco Bezanilla University of California, Los Angeles
1989 Clara Franzini-Armstrong University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
  Knox Chandler Yale University School of Medicine
1988 H. Ronald Kaback University of California, Los Angeles
1987 Robert B. Gunn Emory University School of Medicine
  Philip A. Knauf University of Rochester Medical Center
1986 Christopher Miller Brandeis University, HHMI
1985 Richard W. Tsien Stanford University School of Medicine
1984 Mauricio Montal University of California, San Diego
1983 Robert Post Vanderbilt University
1982 Erwin Neher Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
1981 John Moore Duke University Medical Center
  Toshiro Narahashi Northwestern University Medical Center
1980 Thomas Thompson University of Virginia Health Science Center
  Demetrios Papahadjopoulos Roswell Park Memorial Hospital
1979 Michael Edidin Johns Hopkins University
  Richard Cone Johns Hopkins University
1978 Alan Finkelstein Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1977 Paul Mueller Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Unit
1976 Susumu Hagiwara University of California, Los Angeles
1975 Peter Curran (Posthumous) Yale University
1974 Clay Armstrong University of Pennsylvania 
1973 Bertil Hille University of Washington
  David Goldman Naval Medical Research Institute

 

 

Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup Bylaws

Article I
Purpose: The purpose of the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup (formerly Membrane Biophysics) is to promote the exchange of ideas and information pertaining to the study of biological membranes. Subgroup members pursue research in a variety of areas including the structure, function and regulation of channels and transporters, ligand-receptor interactions, signal transduction mechanisms, protein trafficking and secretory mechanisms.

Article II
Membership: Members of the Biophysical Society may join the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup; non-members of the Biophysical Society are welcome to attend Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup symposia but are not entitled to join the Subgroup, serve as Officers of the Subgroup, or vote.

Article III
Dissolution: The Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup must be in accordance with the Biophysical Society’s constitution and bylaws, mission, values, goals, and operational guidelines. If the Subgroup is found in violation of their bylaws, the group will be placed on probation and may be dissolved at the discretion of the Council of the Biophysical Society.

Article IV
Meetings: Business meetings shall be held in connection with the annual scientific meeting of the Biophysical Society. Five percent of the members of the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup or 10 members, whichever is smaller, shall constitute a quorum. Scientific meetings shall be held in association with the annual Biophysical Society meetings, and must follow the guidelines established by the Biophysical Society Council.

Article V
Officers: The elected Officers of the Subgroup will be the Chair, the Chair-elect, the past-Chair, the past-past Chair, and the Secretary-Treasurer. The Chair shall serve one year as such, preceded by one-year as Chair-elect, and followed by one year as past-Chair and another year as past-past Chair. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected for a term of 3 years.

The Chair will be responsible for assembling the scientific program for the annual Subgroup Meeting, which may include either invited speakers, selected talks from submitted abstracts. The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer will be responsible for the organization of any social events during the meeting. The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer will run the business meeting and make sure bylaws are being followed. The Secretary-Treasurer will make sure the books are balanced and that available funds are spent according to the mission of the Subgroup. The Secretary-Treasurer will also be responsible for the electronic communications with the membership and for collecting nominations for the elected positions and awards.

Article VI
Executive Committee: The Executive Committee will be responsible for fulfilling the scientific and business obligations of the group, by means of electronic vote when necessary. The Executive Committee will consist of the abovementioned Officers. The affairs of the Subgroup shall be handled by the Officers in accordance with the policies determined by the Executive Committee and the Biophysical Society Council.

Article VII
Nominating Committee: The members of the Executive Committee shall constitute the Nominating Committee for the positions of Chair and Secretary-Treasurer. The Nominating Committee is responsible for soliciting nominations from subgroup membership and for preparing the final slate of candidates. Nominations will be received electronically up to one month prior to the Subgroup’s business meeting. Nominees must accept their nomination prior to being placed on a ballot.

Article VIII
Eligibility for Office: Only members of the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup may be candidates for offices. Members may not be elected to one office more than once every five years.

Article XI
Elections: Elections will be held electronically up to two weeks prior to the Subgroup’s business meeting.  The candidate for each office receiving the highest number of votes will be elected. The results will be announced to the Subgroup’s membership during the Subgroup’s Business meeting. Officers will take office at the end of the annual business meeting held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Biophysical Society. Interim vacancies in officers or councilors will be filled in accordance with Bylaw Article VII of the Biophysical Society.

Article X

Awards Committee: An Awards Committee will be established annually consisting of the Chair, the Chair-elect, the past-Chair and two Subgroup members who are not Officers, and who will be appointed by the Chair for a one-year term. In coordination with the Secretary-Treasurer, the Awards Committee will solicit nominations through a call to all Subgroup members, evaluate nominations, and select awardees. The committee’s selection criteria will be based on scientific excellence first but must also consider diversity.

 

Article XI
The Kenneth S. Cole Award: It is the policy and intent of the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup to make an award annually to one or more investigators in the field of membrane biophysics, in recognition of their research achievements as well as their potential for future contributions.

The Award shall consist of a medal or other appropriate symbol as well as a monetary prize. The funds to support this Award shall come from dues, voluntary contributions from members of the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup and any other sources which may become available.

The recipient of the Award will be selected by the Awards Committee. Nominations may be made by any Subgroup member. The nomination package must include the nominee’s curriculum vitae as well as a brief statement summarizing the nominee’s qualifications, contributions and potential for future achievements. One or more letters of support may also be enclosed, which need not be from members of the Subgroup. Members of Executive Committee or Awards Committee may not submit letters of support.

Nominees may not be current members of the Executive Committee or Awards Committee or have previously received the Cole Award. The selection procedure will be established by Awards Committee each year.

Nominations must be made before November 1 of each year.

The Award will be presented by the outgoing Chair or a designate from within the Executive Committee at the annual Subgroup meeting.

The Award need not be given if a suitable candidate is not found.

Article XII
Amendments to the Bylaws: Amendments to the bylaws of the Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Subgroup’s Executive Committee, and ratified in an electronic ballot by a majority of the members of the group voting.

 

The following word cloud is comprised of the speaker talk titles from our symposia.