LAUSR

A meeting focused on Biophysical Approaches to Protein Folding and Disease held as a satellite of the joint 19th IUPAB congress and 11th EBSA congress in Edinburgh 20–21 July 2017 (https ://arbre -mobie u.eu/ebsa-satel lite/) was organized by the Molecular Biophysics in Europe (MOBIEU) COST-funded network of the Association of Resources for Biophysical Research in Europe (ARBRE). The meeting consisted of three half-day sessions, each including a keynote speaker, an invited speaker and selected talks from ARBRE-MOBIEU and other European networks and industrial partners. Besides the 3 keynote speakers and 5 invited speakers, we had 12 talks selected from the submitted abstracts and 17 poster presentations. The meeting was well attended, excellent discussions were had, and the book of abstracts can be downloaded from the satellite web site (https ://arbre -mobie u.eu/wp-conte nt/uploa ds/2017/07/Satel lite_Meeti ng_BookO fAbst racts .pdf). Correct protein folding is fundamental for a cell to function properly. Many different cellular processes can assist proteins in gaining the defined structure needed to function, or are involved in the clearance of non-functional misfolded proteins. Dysregulation of these processes can lead to protein conformations without physiological function or which are toxic, subsequently leading to the onset of disease. This satellite mainly focused on how molecular-scale biophysical methods can be applied to the study of biomedically pressing questions at all levels, from genetics and the preparation and analysis of biological samples to technological innovation such as in functional magnetic resonance imaging. Protein misfolding is fundamentally a biophysical problem, amenable to multiscale analysis using complementary techniques. Furthermore, outputs from studies of, for example, proteins involved in neurodegenerative diseases provide a basis for novel biophysical applications as well. This meeting notably provided an opportunity for ARBREMOBIEU to explore new joint research projects, which are one of this COST Action’s planned outputs. * Robert J. C. Gilbert [email protected]