Biophysical Society announces 2008 International Travel Awards

Bethesda, MD— The Biophysical Society has announced the winners of its international travel grants to attend the Joint Meeting of the Biophysical Society and the International Biophysics Congress in Long Beach, California, February 2-6, 2008. 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 February 2, 2008.

The 2008 recipients of the International Travel Award are:

• Marcin Balcerzak, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland, “Non-Channel Function of Bacterial Mechanosensitive Channel MscS.”

• Khundrakpam Budhachandra, Singh National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon, India, “Dynamic Space-time Representation in the Neural System: A Novel Formulation using Tensor Image Analysis.”

• Octavian O. Calborean, University of Bucharest, Romania, “3D Structure of the Unliganded gp120 Based on Structural Homology and Molecular Dynamics Symulations.”

• Ariel E. Contreras, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, “Insulin Stimulates Glucose Uptake Through IP3-dependent Intracellular Calcium Release in Rat Neonatal Cardiac Myocytes.”

• Jose M. Delfino, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, “Stability and Folding of a TRX Fragment.”

• Reinaldo V. DiPolo, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Caracas, Venezuela, “Dual Effect of Na+I on Ca2+ Influx Through the Na+/ca2+ Exchanger in Dialyzed Squid Axons. Experimental Data Confirming the Validity of the Squid Axon Kinetic Model.”

• Elspeth B. Elliott, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, “K201 Inhibits Diastolic Ca2+ Release And Contractions in Isolated Rat Cardiomyocytes Without Increasing Subsequent Transient Amplitude.”

• Yingang Feng, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, “Solution Structure and DNA-binding Surface of a Crenarchaea-conserved Chromatin Protein.”

• Slawomir Filipek, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw, Poland, “Agonist/Antagonist Sensor in Opioid Receptors-Molecular Modeling Study.”

• Mark R. Fowler, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, “Spatially Restricted Ca2+ Transients Reflect Release by the SR in Rabbit Ventricular Myocytes.”

• Maria A. Frias, Universidad de Tucuman, Argentina, “Carbonyl Configuration and Hydration of Curved and Ripples States of Lipid Interphases.”