Dynamics of Glassy Polymers Under Nanoscale Confinement

This focus session will solicit experimental, theoretical, and computational studies examining the effect of nanoscale confinement on the dynamical properties of polymers. There is substantial evidence that nanoscale confinement affects the glass transition temperature (T_g) and related properties. In addition to changes in T_g, other measures of dynamic properties such as the diffusion coefficient, relaxation time, or viscosity, are of interest. Several recent studies have indicated that these confinement effects can be exploited to create novel materials, such as ultrastable glasses.

Organizers:
Zahra Fakhraai
Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania
231 South 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: (215) 746-8436
Email: fakhraai@sas.upenn.edu

Robert Riggleman
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
220 S 33rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: (215) 898-2411
Email: rrig@seas.upenn.edu

Polymers for Energy Storage and Conversion

Advances in the development of polymeric materials and polymer based devices have generated new knowledge, concepts and strategies for energy conversion, generation of light and energy storage. This symposium covers recent progress in these fields. Contributions are solicited for research related to the above topics such as utilizing polymers for solar energy conversion or light emission, polymer-composites or multilayers for energy capture and conversion schemes including thermoelectrics, and polymeric materials for energy storage devices such as lithium ion batteries or capacitors. Contributions related to computational and experimental studies are welcome.

Organizers:
Enrique Gomez
The Pennsylvania State University
106 Fenske Lab
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 689-9394
Email: edg12@psu.edu

Michael Chabinyc
University of California, Santa Barbara
Elings Hall Room 3219
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone: (805) 893-4042
Email: mchabinyc@engineering.ucsb.edu

Crystallization and Directed Assembly of Multicomponent Systems

This focus session invites presentations related to crystallization and directed assembly in multicomponent and hybrid systems. The session encompasses a number of interesting systems including block copolymers, crystalline polymer thin films and nanocomposites.  Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following studies: polymer crystallization in hybrid systems: epitaxy, graphoepitaxy and soft epitaxy; structural and morphological development of ordered polymer chains in confined space; interplay between nucleation and chain confinement;  ultra-small polymer crystals; curved, scrolled and twisted crystals; polymer crystallization in nanofibers; crystalline and liquid crystalline block copolymers confinement effect on polymer crystallization, crystallization templated by nanoparticles and nanoparticle assembly templated by polymer crystallization. Both theoretical and experimental studies are welcome.

Organizers:
Christopher Li
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street, LeBow 443
Philadelphia, PA  19104
Phone: (215) 895-2083
Email: chrisli@drexel.edu

Bernard Lotz
Institut Charles Sadron
23 Rue du Lœss, 67034
Strasbourg, France
Phone: (33) 388 41 40 46
Email: bernard.lotz@ics-cnrs.unistra.fr

Dielectric and Ferroelectric Polymers for Electrical Applications

Dielectric and ferroelectric polymers play an important role in electrical insulation and advanced electronic applications, such as dielectric capacitor films, high voltage cables, gate dielectrics, nonvolatile memories, transducers, actuators, sensors, solid-state refrigeration, etc. With recent development of new electrical applications, novel dielectric and ferroelectric polymers having unique dielectric and ferroelectric properties are highly desired. These include, but not limited to, high dielectric constant/high breakdown strength/low loss polymers, dipolar glasses, relaxor ferroelectric polymers, antiferroelectric liquid crystalline and crystalline polymers, ferroelectric polymer thin films, and polymer nanocomposites. In recent years, substantial advances have been achieved through both theoretical and experimental studies. This focused session welcomes all new advances in the physics of advanced dielectric and ferroelectric polymers.

Organizers:
Lei Zhu
Case Western Reserve University
2100 Adelbert Road
Cleveland, OH 44106
Phone: (216) 368-5861
Email: lxz121@case.edu

Qiming Zhang
Pennsylvania State University
N-219 Millennium Science Complex
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 863-8994
Email: qxz1@psu.edu

DPOLY/GERA

Polymer Membranes for Clean Energy and Water

Advances in development of polymeric membranes for clean energy and water applications have generated new knowledge, concepts and strategies for more efficient separation. This symposium covers recent developments in this field. Contributions are solicited for research related to the above topics such as utilizing polymer membranes for– gas separation, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, microfiltration, pervaporation, ion exchange membranes, battery separators and electrolytes. Advances in physics underlying polymer enabled membrane technology and their efficiency and performance is solicited through both theoretical and experimental studies.

Organizers:
Nitash Balsara
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Gilman Hall 201C
Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone: (510) 642-8973
Email: nbalsara1@gmail.com

A. Evren Ozcam
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Tan Hall D52
Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone: (510) 449-7172
Berkeley CA 94720
Email: aeozcam@berkeley.edu

Understanding Fluctuation and Correlation Effects in Polymers

Fluctuations/correlations neglected by the well-developed and widely applied polymer self-consistent field theory play important roles in many polymeric systems, ranging from dilute and semi-dilute polymer solutions to polymer blends (near the critical point) to block copolymers (near the order-disorder transition) to microemulsions to polyelectrolytes. This focus session will highlight the recent development in advanced theories and simulations specifically addressing the effects of fluctuations/correlations, including but not limited to integral-equation theories, density-functional theories, field-theoretic simulations, and molecular simulations. Recent experimental studies that cannot be explained by the self-consistent field theory are also welcome.

Organizer:
Qiang (David) Wang
Colorado State University
1370 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1370
Phone: (970) 491-2763
Email: q.wang@colostate.edu

Thin Films of Block Copolymers and Hybrid Materials

This focus session highlights recent experimental and theoretical developments that relate to the design, characterization, and processing of block copolymer thin films. Contributions related to the directed assembly and templated growth of hybrid materials in block copolymer systems are particularly encouraged. Other areas of interest include copolymer synthesis, phase separation in thin films, and the thermodynamics/kinetics of thin film processing. Applications may include lithography, energy, membranes, biological templates, and photonics.

Organizers:
Gila Stein
University of Houston
S222 Engineering Bldg 1
4800 Calhoun Road
Houston, TX 77006
Phone: (713) 743-9869
Email: gestein@uh.edu

Mark Stoykovich
University of Colorado
Campus Box 596
Boulder, CO 80303
Phone: 303) 692-6522
Email: mark.stoykovich@colorado.edu

same as 02.1.1 and 03.1.8

Supercooled Polymeric Liquids and Glasses

The formation of glasses represents an important transition in soft matter physics and is of enormous importance in a wide variety of commercial applications. The physics of glass formation and the glassy-state, while extensively investigated, are still rich in phenomena that are not fully understood. This session aims to illuminate recent experimental and computational studies, as well as theoretical contributions, regarding the origins of glass formation and the properties of the glassy-state, with a particular emphasis on polymer, colloidal and molecular glasses and topics ranging from dynamic heterogeneity, aging, secondary relaxations, and fragility to deformation and stability of glasses.

Organizer:
Rodney D. Priestley
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University
A417 Engineering Quad A-Wing
Princeton, NJ 08544
Phone: (609) 258-5721
Email: rpriestl@princeton.edu

Microfluidics and Nanofluidics: The Physics of Confined Fluids

This section will focus on the behavior of fluids confined in micron and nanometer length scale channels. It will concern both the fundamental physics of the flow of the fluids in these channels and the very extensive and growing applications of microfluidics, both in biological applications and in making new materials.

Organizers:
Daeyeon Lee
University of Pennsylvania
220 S. 33rd St. 311A Towne
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: (215) 573-4521
Email: daeyeon@seas.upenn.edu
Email: daeyeon@seas.upenn.edu

David A. Weitz
Harvard University
Pierce 231, 29 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 496-2842
Email: weitz@seas.harvard.edu

Charged Colloids with Short-Range Attractions

Dispersions of charge-stabilized colloids with a weak, but long range repulsion and a short-range attraction exhibit a rich phase behavior and dynamics, and are a model for many proteins solutions. While the repulsion provides colloidal stability, the attraction promotes particle aggregation, crystallization, gelation and/or phase separation. The competition of these two potential features can cause spontaneous patterning in both two and three dimensional systems, introduce rich phases in the corresponding glass/gel states. Importantly, the balance of these colloidal forces is thought to control the formation of equilibrium clusters in protein solutions, such as monoclonal antibodies, which are of significant consequence in biopharmaceuticals. The quantitative, physical understanding of how the delicate balance of these two potential features can lead to different phase transition, percolation, or heterogeneous structure distribution in a liquid state is important for both biology and biomedical industry. This focus session hopes to bring active groups worldwide to discuss and identify the important research directions, exchange and debate different research ideas, and update the most recent research results to accelerate the progress of this research topic.

Organizers:
Yun Liu
University of Delaware / National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, MS6102
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
Phone: (301) 975-6235
Email: yunliu@nist.gov

Norman Wagner
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware
150 Academy Street
Newark, DE 19716
Phone: (302) 831-8079
Email: wagnernj@udel.edu

Statistical Physics of Active Systems Away from Detailed Balance: Motors, Swimmers, and All That

This focus session will address application of statistical physics to the systems actively driven away from equilibrium by active energy consuming biological processes, such as swimming microorganisms, molecular motor dependent dynamics of the cytoskeleton, active simplification of DNA topology, and other phenomena violating detailed balance. The huge research activity in these areas is driven by novel experimental techniques at single molecule, sub-cellular, and multi-cellular levels. The subjects of the focus session will include experimental and theoretical aspects of the mobility of DNA segments inside chromatin, molecular and cellular mechanisms of swimming, self-assembly of viruses, and the driven dynamics of molecular motors or the replication fork. This focus session will bring together experts working at the interface of polymer and soft matter physics, biophysics and biology to discuss these exciting fields in context of each other.

Organizer:
Alexander Grosberg
Department of Physics, New York University
4 Washington Place
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 992-9574
Email: ayg1@nyu.edu

Nano to Meso-Scale Structure in Ordered Soft Matter: Liquid Crystal Structure, Dynamics, and Function

Liquid crystallinity plays an important role in the structure and function of many soft matter systems. Recent progress in chemical synthesis and emerging applications of functional liquid crystalline materials have significantly broadened the scope of studies in the field. This session is focused on the latest advances in studies of structure, dynamics, and functional properties of liquid crystalline soft matter. Systems of interest include small molecule, biological and macromolecular liquid crytsals, and lyotropic suspensions. Topics of interest include but are not limited to liquid crystalline semiconductors, supramolecular liquid crystals, hierarchical order in LC block copolymers, phase transitions in bent-core and chromonic LCs, dynamics in LC nanocomposites, liquid crystalline order in anisotropic nanomaterials, LC defect dynamics and ordering defects in LC systems.

Organizer:
Chinedum Osuji
Department of Chemical Engineering, Yale University
PO Box 208286
New Haven, CT 06520
Phone: (203) 432-4357
Email: chinedum.osuji@yale.edu

Organic Electronics and Photonics

The electronic, excitonic, and photonic properties of organic materials, including small molecules and polymers, continue to be the subject of active fundamental and applied research. This focus topic covers recent developments in this field with particular attention to the following areas related to organic and excitonic semiconductor materials and devices:

• Charge carrier transport, injection, and recombination
• Exciton dynamics and transport
• Organic-organic and organic-inorganic interfaces
• Optical and optoelectronic properties
• Correlations to primary chemical structure, nanostructure, microstructure, and morphology
• Fundamental progress in device design, processing, degradation, and modeling, including work on light-emitting devices, photovoltaic cells, field-effect transistors, switches, sensors, and lasers

Organizers:
Richard Lunt
Michigan State University
Email: rlunt@msu.edu

C. Daniel Frisbie
University of Minnesota
Email: frisbie@umn.edu

Michael S. Arnold
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Email: msarnold@wisc.edu

Assembly and Function of Biomimetic and Bioinspired Materials

This focus topic addresses experimental and theoretical research in the discovery, design, synthesis and characterization of functional biomimetic and bioinspired materials. The emphasis is on design, synthesis and understanding of robust materials and systems with emergent behavior that work with the extraordinary effectiveness of molecules and processes of the biological world. Areas include:

• Understanding, controlling, and building complex hierarchical structures by mimicking nature's self- and directed-assembly approaches
• Design, synthesis and characterization of multi-component (e.g., inorganic, polymeric, and biological) materials and systems that deliver robust functionality and/or are environmentally adaptive and self-healing
• Development of functional systems with collective properties not achievable by simply summing the individual components
• Investigations of the inherently nonequilibrium dynamics of biomaterials (e.g. biopolymer gels)
• Elucidating the physical principles behind self- and directed-assembly, membrane dynamics, flow through pores, conformational and mechanical response, and signal transduction in biomimetic systems

Organizers:
Mark Stevens
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Email: msteve@sandia.gov

Jim DeYoreo
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Email: jjdeyoro@lbl.gov

Alex Noy
University of California, Merced
Email: anoy@ucmerced.edu

Polymer Nanocomposites: Active Particles and Dynamics

This broad focus session highlights two attributes of polymer nanocomposites: active nanoparticles and dynamics. Experimental, modeling and theoretical contributions that address either (or both) topic are welcome. Polymer nanocomposites are particularly interesting when active nanoparticles are responsive to an external field (e.g., light, magnetic, or electric). The diversity of active nanoparticles has now grown to include schemes such as inductive heating by magnetic nanoparticles, photothermal heating of metal nanoparticles, and heating from light-sensitization of polymers by embedding carbon nanotubes. Active nanoparticles can be used to transform nanocomposites during fabrication, post-processing, or repeatedly in a stimuli-responsive composite. Nanoparticles have sizes intermediate between the monomeric unit and the macromolecular dimension (Rg). Thus, the dynamics of polymer nanocomposites are inherently complex because the timescales and length scales of the polymer and nanoparticle mobility vary by orders of magnitude within a given nanocomposite. The polymer and nanoparticle dynamics are influenced by the polymer conformation, nanoparticle dispersion and miscibility. Dynamics in polymer nanocomposites possess great diversity, because there are repulsive or attractive polymer-nanoparticle interactions, hard or soft nanoparticles, and unentangled or entangled polymer matrices.

Organizers:
Laura Clarke
North Carolina State University, Department of Physics
Box 8202, Raleigh, NC 27607
Email: Laura_Clarke@ncsu.edu

Karen I. Winey
University of Pennsylvania, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
3231 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA  19104-6272
Email: winey@seas.upenn.edu

Spin Glasses: Advances, Algorithms, and Applications

Spin glasses continue to be an active and controversial area in statistical physics with ramifications across many disciplines. As a paradigmatic example of frustration and rough free energy landscapes, spin glasses have applications across multiple fields. For example, p-spin models are used to understand structural glasses, replica methods originally developed for spin glasses are used to study ensembles of NP-hard problems in computer science and spin glass-models with exotic interactions are needed to analyze error correction techniques in topological quantum computing. Furthermore, spin glasses have motivated the development of powerful algorithms such as parallel tempering, genetic algorithms with triadic crossover, extremal optimization, etc., that are widely used across a spectrum of complex optimization problems that display rough free energy landscapes such as predicting the conformation of biomolecules or solving combinatorial optimization problems. Thus problems based on spin-glass like Hamiltonians are under active study using complex computational methods and continue to spawn algorithmic advances.

Organizer:
Helmut G. Katzgraber
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas A&M University
Phone: (979) 229-0444
Email: hgk@tamu.edu

Continuum Descriptions of Discrete Materials

Many materials of interest in basic and applied physics have a coarse microstructure, such as granular materials, foams, suspensions, emulsions, and glasses. To model these materials at the large-scale, continuum formulations have been sought after to represent the homogenized effects of a large number of microscopic interactions.  While extremely useful and expeditious for simulation purposes, the derivation of valid continuum models for particulate media remains challenging. Issues such as jamming, non-locality, intermittency, temperature analogies, homogenization scales, and shear banding have proven to be complex and important topics when constructing continuum descriptions for these materials.  This focus session shall discuss the current state of research in continuum approaches for discrete materials, mixing aspects of statistical, fluid, and solid mechanics with discrete particle physics.

Organizers:
Ken Kamrin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Phone: (617) 715-4157
Email: kkamrin@mit.edu

L. Mahadevan
Harvard University
Phone: (617) 496-9599
Email: lm@seas.harvard.edu

Wet Granular Matter: Capillary Aggregation to Shaping of Landscapes

This focus session will bring together researchers with interest in wet granular materials in a variety of natural and industrial contexts. From the rheology of granular suspension to the mechanical stability of cohesive granular material, the interaction between grains and liquid is a common, highly interdisciplinary problem encountered for example in sediment transport in river beds, soil stability, dynamic filtration, clogging and self-assembly. In a partially saturated regime, the mechanical stability of the grains is greatly affected by the cohesion induced by capillarity. In the saturated regime, the grains are completely immersed in the fluid affecting its rheology through frictional and hydrodynamic interaction. The constant interplay between liquid flow and granular materials makes this problem highly nonlinear and responsible for a large array of phenomena. Grain-fluid mixtures pose unique challenges which require juxtaposition of different modeling techniques including continuous and discrete approaches.

Organizer:
Arshad Kudrolli
Clark University
Phone: (508) 793-7752
Email: akudrolli@clarku.edu

Physical Approaches to Social Modeling

How we interact with others, where we are, and where we go are all facets of modern life that are increasingly captured with ever greater detail by online tools and handheld gadgets. The data that is generated continuously and unobtrusively by these tools provides a unique and unprecedented view of how individuals interact at scales ranging from small groups of friends to entire cities or countries. The sheer number of individuals and interactions that we are able to study in this way poses challenges that Statistical Physics, with its long history of analyzing systems from both the microscopic and macroscopic perspectives, is uniquely apt to face. Over the course of the last several years, physicists have become increasingly interested in these kinds of problems resulting in an explosion of analytical and computational models and results which are starting to lay the foundations of a new revolution in the rigorous study of human behavior, including Dynamical Social Networks, Human Mobility, Information Diffusion, Rumor Spreading, the development of Collective Social Movements, etc. The objective of this session is to present recent work in the development of formal models and the appropriate mathematical and statistical tools aimed at understanding and characterizing the way information flows and social contagion processes occur in realistic populations.

Organizers:
Bruno Gonçalves
Northeastern University
Phone: (678) 644-1704
Email: b.goncalves@neu.edu

Nicola Perra
Northeastern University
Phone: (812) 855-9958
Email: n.perra@neu.edu

Jamming: Marginal Solids

This session considers marginal jammed solids that display solid-like features under particular boundary conditions, states of stress, or methods of preparation, but not others. Examples of marginal solids include: 1) frictional granular packings that are solid-like in directions parallel to the applied compressive stress, but not for the orthogonal direction; 2) unjammed athermal particulate systems that display reversible behavior during oscillatory shear over a particular range of packing fraction and shear amplitude but not others; 3) packings of particulate media at jamming onset that show strong nonlinear vibrational response; and 4) loose packings of particles with complex shapes that can become more solid-like with increased driving. We seek experimental, computational, and theoretical studies of related phenomena in marginal solids in colloids, granular media, foams, and other particle-based systems.

Organizers:
Corey O'Hern
Departments of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science and Physics, Yale University
Phone: (203) 432-4258
Email: corey.ohern@yale.edu

Robert Behringer
Department of Physics, Duke University
Phone: (919) 660-2550
Email: bob@phy.duke.edu

Extreme Mechanics - Elasticity and Deformation

Over the past few years, the scientific community has taken the fields of elasticity and solid mechanics into a new exciting direction. In particular, the elasticity of soft materials and structures can be rich and highly nontrivial. During the deformation process of a soft object, large displacements can give rise to non-negligible geometric nonlinearities. There is also a great potential for coupling the elasticity of highly deformable objects with other phenomena such as fluid flow, surface tension, fracture and adhesion, to name but a few. Moreover, elasticity offers the unique and exciting possibility to design multifunctional materials with novel properties through the appropriate design of the structural layout.

Organizers:
Katia Bertoldi
Harvard University
Email: bertoldi@seas.harvard.edu

Doug Holmes
Virginia Tech
Email: dpholmes@vt.edu

Carmel Majidi
Carnegie Mellon University
Email: cmajidi@andrew.cmu.edu

Christian Santangelo
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Email: csantang@physics.umass.edu

Stochastic and Evolutionary Population Dynamics

Over the past few years, mathematical and computational tools from statistical physics have been increasingly and quite successfully applied to ecological problems, including attempts at a quantitative understanding of evolutionary dynamics and the emergence and stability of biodiversity. Physicists typically consider simplified idealized models that hopefully capture the essential features of interacting biosystems; leaving aside some of the biological complexity allows the consistent incorporation of stochastic fluctuations and spatio-temporal correlations, whose crucial importance has long been recognized in the field, but is nevertheless often neglected. In parallel, novel analytical developments have advanced our current understanding of how fluctuations and emerging correlations enhance the stability of such structures and increase extinction times in small populations. More recently, additional complexity has been added to spatial and stochastic evolutionary models, rendering them increasingly more realistic and relevant to actual biological systems and ecological problems.

Organizers:
Michel Pleimling
Department of Physics, Virginia Tech
Robeson Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0435
Phone: (540) 231-2675
Email: Michel.Pleimling@vt.edu

Uwe C. Tauber
Department of Physics, Virginia Tech
Robeson Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0435
Phone: (540) 231-8998
Email: tauber@vt.edu

Manipulation of Single Proteins and their Complexes

Understanding mechanics of single proteins is important for many biological processes which involve force-induced unfolding such as muscle extension, cell-cell adhesion, protein translocation, sensing, etc., and is relevant for identification of proteins that cause neurodegenerative diseases. The primary instruments for implementation of mechanical manipulation of proteins and their complexes, such as amyloid aggregates and virus capsids, are optical tweezers and, at larger forces, atomic force microscopes. They have been used to monitor folding pathways of proteins and establish their mechanical stability through stretching. Virus capsids, on the other hand, have been studied through nanoindentation. The proposed symposium will review the experimental and theoretical work pertaining to bio-nanomanipulation. The proposed invited speaker, is known for giving talks that are inspiring and easy to understand. He has surveyed mechanostability of thousands of proteins and now is focused on virus capsids. He is the chairman of Division of Physics in Life Sciences of the EPS and a Fellow of the APS.

Organizer:
Jayanth R. Banavar
University of Maryland
Dean's Office: 2300 Symons Hall
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: (301) 405-2316
Email: banavar@umd.edu

The Physics of Behavior

While biophysics has seen an explosion in the ability to characterize the molecules, cells, and circuits that generate natural behavior, our understanding of behavior itself and it's connections to underlying mechanisms is remarkably less advanced. In addition, dynamics on the organism scale are especially important in the context of natural selection. Even in simpler organisms, natural behavior is complex and requires both new tools for measurement (often though novel imaging), analysis and new set of theoretical ideas. Physicists are making important contributions in all of these directions and we will construct our session from a diverse range of efforts, from microorganisms to humans and from the motion of single animals to collective dynamics.

Organizers:
Joshua W. Shaevitz
Department of Physics, Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics
Princeton University
150 Carl Icahn Laboratory
Princeton, NJ 08544
Phone: (609) 258-8177
Email: shaevitz@princeton.edu

Greg J. Stephens
Department of Physics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam & Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
Faculty of Exact Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
De Boelelaan 1081
1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Phone: +1 609 651 2594
Email: gjstephens@gmail.com

Structures and Dynamics of Biomembranes

Amphiphilic molecules such as lipids, surfactants, polymers or their mixtures can self-assemble into a variety of structures, one of which is bilayered membrane. Because of their similarity to the structure of cell membrane, bilayered membranes can serve as a native substrate for membrane-associated proteins to study the structures, dynamics and interactions of membrane proteins and their host membranes. Moreover, in many cases, fundamental physics of self-assembly, exchange and kinetics of the amphiphilic molecules in aqueous solutions are not well understood. This session will include the presentations in regard to the structural and dynamic studies of amphiphilic molecules forming membranes and their applications and implications to the associated biomolecules.

Organizer:
Mu-Ping Nieh
Institute of Materials Science, University of Connecticut
97 North Eagleville Road
Storrs, CT 06269
Phone: 860-486-8708
Email: mu-ping.nieh@ims.uconn.edu

Single Molecule Studies of Nano-Machines

Molecular nano-machines drive a variety of crucial functions in living cells, from DNA packing to intracellular transport and whole cell motility. Recent advances in single molecule studies revealing new information on the physics of nano-machines will be explored in this focus session.

Organizer:
Jing Xu
School of Natural Sciences, University of California Merced
5200 North Lake Road
Merced, CA 95343
Phone: (209) 201-5978
Email: jxu8@ucmerced.edu

Jennifer Ross
University of Massachusetts Amherst
302 Hasbrouck Laboratory
666 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: (413) 545-2399
Email: rossj@physics.umass.edu

Cell Mechanics

Living cells are exquisite forms of soft matter in that they generate internal forces and regulate adhesion to the surrounding environment and neighboring cells. The physical properties of living cells ultimately determine the self-organization and mechanics of living tissue. This focus session will examine the regulation of cell mechanics from the molecular to cellular length scale with an emphasis on the regulation of cell adhesion and force generation.

Organizers:
Margaret Gardel
University of Chicago
GCIS E233, 929 E 57th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: (773) 834-5871
Email: gardel@uchicago.edu

Jennifer Ross
University of Massachusetts Amherst
302 Hasbrouck Laboratory
666 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: (413) 545-2399
Email: rossj@physics.umass.edu

Biophysics of the Cytoskeleton

Cytoskeletal filaments are non-covalent polymers that support and organize the cell interior. In this capacity, they act as support beams, tension ropes, and transport tracks for motors conducting intracellular transport. The cytoskeleton consists of microtubules, actin filaments, and intermediate filaments. Each type of filament has different roles in the cell and different physical properties to perform their functions. Moreover, these polymers are driven far from thermodynamic equilibrium by ATP-consuming processes within the cell. This focus session will examine the physical properties of the cytoskeleton with an emphasis their non-equilibrium behaviors, cellular force transmission and cellular organization.

Organizers:
Jennifer Ross
University of Massachusetts Amherst
302 Hasbrouck Laboratory
666 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: (413) 545-2399
Email: rossj@physics.umass.edu

Margaret Gardel
University of Chicago
GCIS E233, 929 E 57th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: (773) 834-5871
Email: gardel@uchicago.edu

Selection in Silico: The Complex Dynamics of Digital Evolution

The application of dynamical, statistical and complex systems techniques to the study of evolution is of increasing interest to the biological physics community. Sessions on experimental and theoretical studies of evolutionary dynamics were immensely popular at the 2012 March Meeting. I propose a session which will focus specifically computational studies of evolutionary dynamics. The session will be anchored by invited talks by two pioneers in the field, Yaneer Bar-Yam and Charles Ofria. Their work represents two aspects of the cutting edge of this field, with important theoretical implications as well as applications to real biological data. I anticipate that the session will be of great interest to DBIO and GSNP attendees, and will attract a number of interesting contributed talks. Conversely, the session will also bring DBIO to the attention of the computational evolutionary dynamics community, and may attract new attendees and new membership.

Organizer:
Sonya Bahar
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Missouri at St. Louis
One University Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63121
Phone: (314) 516-7150
Email: bahars@umsl.edu

The Physics of Biomineralization

Crystals formed under biological control, or biominerals, include bone, teeth, mollusk shells, egg shells, carapaces, and many more hard structures that provide the organism with attack and defense tools, gravity and magnetic field sensing, locomotion, mastication, digestion, and a myriad other functions. The mechanisms leading to biomineral formation have only recently begun to be elucidated, but much remains to be discovered. Physics contributions are relatively new in the field of biomineralization, but have already made a dramatic impact, demonstrating in the last 5 years that biominerals are space-filling, gradually ordering nano- or micro-crystals, with distinct architectures at different scales. These 2 focus sessions will bring together excellent invited speakers from physics, materials science, and engineering, who share a passion and have dedicated their careers to discovering the physical basis of biominerals formation. We plan to organize 2 Focus Sessions and 1 Invited Session on Biomineralization. This will attract a critical mass of 7 invited speakers in the field, who will have their students and post-docs give contributed talks in the Focus Sessions. This is our strategy to bring the exciting field of biomineralization to the attention of DBIO, DCMP, DMP, and GSNP members, who are likely to get interested in this field and give terrific contributions in the near future.

Organizers:
Pupa Gilbert
University of Wisconsin
1150 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 262-5829
Email: pupa@physics.wisc.edu

Susan N. Coppersmith
University of Wisconsin
1150 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 262-8358
Email: snc@physics.wisc.edu

From Molecules to Cells

It is clear that biology starts from the molecular scale, where evolution has fashioned incredibly intricate protein-based machines that sense their surroundings, recognize their neighbors and controllably apply both chemical signals and physical forces so as to accomplish their tasks necessary for survival. Only at the cellular and multicellular scales however does one see life in action, as a distinct form of matter having goal-oriented behavior; these are levels where selective pressures operate. It therefore must be the case that the dynamics at these higher-scales is constrained/determined by their molecular underpinnings. This focus session will feature work which attempts to connect the molecular biophysics of molecules and molecular assemblies with their functional behavior as part of functional cellular subsystems.

Organizers:
Herbert Levine
Rice University
Phone: (858) 395-8261
Email: hlevine@ucsd.edu

Krastan Blagoev
National Science Foundation
Email: krastanb@gmail.com

Translocation through Nanopores

Polymer translocation through protein and synthetic nanopores is an active area of theoretical, computational, and experimental studies. It brings together a broad spectrum of scientists to address a wide variety of fundamental and technological challenges. The focus session will address theoretical treatments of translocation through nanopores, computational challenges in coarse-grained and all atom simulations, electrostatics and hydrodynamical aspects inside and in the vicintiy of the nanopore, and novel experiments pertaining to filtration and translocation of important biomolecules, such as DNA, RNA, and proteins. The focus session will be extremely useful for newcomers and be up-to-date with the most recent progress. It will also bring together more experienced researchers to listen and discuss among each other.

Organizers:
Aniket Bhattacharya
University of Central Florida
4000 Central Florida Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32816
Phone: (407) 823-5206
Email: aniket@physics.ucf.edu

Gary W. Slater
University of Ottawa
150 Louis Pasteur
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Phone: (613) 562-5800 x6775
Email: gslater@uOttawa.ca

Novel Experimental Techniques for Probing Cellular Biomechanics

Mechanical interactions play a key role in many processes associated with cellular development. For example, there has been significant progress in our understanding of the role played by the substrate stiffness in cell differentiation, of the relationships between the cell elastic properties and its health, of the cell-substrate adhesion forces and the generation of traction forces during cell motility etc. This progress has been facilitated by the development of novel experimental techniques, such as Atomic Force Microscopy, Traction Force Microscopy, Optical and Magnetic Tweezers etc., which have enabled unprecedented spatial resolution, high degree of control over the applied forces, minimal sample damage, and the ability to image and interact with cells in physiologically relevant conditions. This section focuses on recent experimental advances in studying cell biomechanics, provides an overview about the state-of-the-art measurements, and suggests directions for future applications to investigate the role of mechanical processes in cellular development.

Organizer:
Cristian Staii
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University
Science and Technology Center
4 Colby Street
Medford, MA 01810
Phone: (617) 627-5368
Email: cstaii01@tufts.edu

Physics of Proteins I: Advances in Protein Folding, Structure, Dynamics and Function

This session will focus on exciting recent advances in understanding multi-aspects of proteins: from folding and structures to dynamics and function. We have invited speakers from the forefront of protein structural prediction and structure-function studies of proteins. This focus session will serve as a stimulating platform for exchanging and discussing recent advances over broad areas on physics of proteins. We plan to organize this focus session in consecutive years in order to attract increasing number of participants and to establish the APS march meetings as the go-to meeting for the physics of proteins.

Organizers:
Wouter D. Hoff
Oklahoma State University
307 Life Sciences East
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: (405) 744-4449
Email: wouter.hoff@okstate.edu

Aihua Xie
Oklahoma State University
145 Physical Sciences
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: (405) 744-6589
Email: aihua.xie@okstate.edu

Physics of Proteins II: Protein Association, Interaction, and Aggregation

Much of the important work of proteins, for good or for harm, is achieved when the proteins associate. This can take place via unregulated self assembly as in the situation of amyloid diseases, or through facilitated assemblies which are regulated as in the case of RecA filaments which assemble on single stranded DNA and facilitate recombination and repair of damaged DNA strands. Physical insights into the nature of these interactions is clearly a key to understanding the etiology of amyloid diseases and the ordinary processes of cell replication and repair of DNA damage engendered by replication. We have chosen leaders in these two distinct areas of protein association, Hilal Lashuel of the EPFL in Lausanne, who uses high resolution microscopy tools to study the oligomer structures of proteins implicated in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinsons, and Steve Kowalczykowski of UC Davis, who uses single molecule techniques to unravel the physics of RecA and similar protein filaments which interact with DNA.

Organizer:
Daniel L. Cox
Department of Physics, University of California, Davis
1 Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Phone: (415) 867-4992
Email: dlcox@ucdavis.edu

Physics of Cancer

The physical sciences are bringing a new perspective to understanding cancer, and have the potential for new approaches to diagnosis and treatment. For example, metastatic cancer cells face strong constraints on their mechanical properties that allow them to migrate and metastasize. Indeed, assays of cell mechanical properties are showing that cancer cells are distinctly softer – promising a novel approach to diagnosis of some cancers. This focus session will highlight research where physical sciences principles or tools are being applied to investigate cancer. Areas of interest include the physical laws and principles that govern and constrain cancer behavior, the physical sciences perspective on the complexity of cancer, the flow and processing of information in cancer, and the dynamics of cancer on all scales.

Organizer:
Wolfgang Losert
University of Maryland
IREAP Paint Branch Drive Bldg 223
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: (301) 405-0629
Email: wlosert@umd.edu

Stochasticity in Cellular Networks

In the last decade, the importance of stochasticity and cellular heterogeneity in dynamics of cellular regulatory networks has been well understood. New experimental techniques and theoretical paradigms for measuring and analyzing these stochastic effects and interpreting their functional importance for cellular dynamics are quickly emerging. This focus session will explore these new developments, specifically in the context of high-precision physics-style experiments and nonequilibrium statistical physics approaches.

Organizers:
Ilya Nemenman
Emory University
400 Dowman Drive
Atlanta, GA 30322
Phone: (505) 795-3704
Email: ilya.nemenman@emory.edu

Aleksandra Walczak
Ecole Normale Supérieure
24, rue Lhomond 75 231
Paris Cedex 05, France
Phone: 33 1 44 32 25 95
Email: awalczak@lpt.ens.fr

Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Well folded proteins have garnered an enormous amount of attention from the biological physics community for good reason- unraveling the protein folding problem has been a tremendous intellectual challenge of basic science with implications reaching beyond biological physics, and the doctrine that structure determines function has held up well for these proteins. However, a broad category of proteins important in many contexts, from cell signaling to neuronal cytoskeleton integrity, adopt NO well folded structure – they are intrinsically disordered and the disorder is essential for their function. This opens a huge area of research to which physical scientists can contribute. We will anchor one of these sessions with a theoretical biological physicist (Rohit Pappu) who is a leader in elucidating the physical organizing principles of disordered proteins, and the other with a computational biologist (Sarah Teichmann) who is developing methods for predicting IDPs (intrinsically disordered proteins). As a backup, in case Sarah Teichmann declines, we will invite Stu Feinstein from UCSB who is a leader in the science of the IDP tau protein which holds together microtubule bundles in the neuronal axon.

Organizer:
Daniel Cox
Department of Physics, University of California, Davis
1 Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Email: kieron@uci.edu

Physics of Single Cell Heterogeneity

While many biological studies such as gene expression measurements are carried out on groups of cells, recent breakthroughs in single cell analysis highlight an amazing underlying heterogeneity at the single cell level. Studies indicate that the biological properties of individual cells in a population can vary significantly, even when the behavior of the population itself is well defined. This focus session is aimed to bring together researchers in the emerging research area of single cell analysis. Work covered in this focus session is expected to include technology to measure single cell heterogeneity, as well as analysis and modeling approaches to describe the causes and consequences of single cell heterogeneity for the functioning of a cell population.

Organizer:
Wolfgang Losert
University of Maryland
IREAP Paint Branch Drive Bldg 223
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: (301) 405-0629
Email: wlosert@umd.edu