LAUSR

At the virtual 2021 Biophysical Society (BPS) Annual meeting, we were happy to hold the first minisymposium of our newly formed subgroup, Multiscale Genome Organization (MGO). This idea for our subgroup emerged during the March/April 2019 BPS Thematic Meeting on chromatin multiscale modeling held at the picturesque Ecole des Physiques in the French Alps at Les Houches, France (Schlick 2020). Likely influenced by Mont Blanc in the background, inspiring us to be broad and ambitious, our dream — to bring together biologists, chemists, physicists, and mathematicians to discuss and launch collaborations and advance the field of chromatin structure, dynamics, function and applications through new conceptual approaches and perspectives — is now a reality. We are particularly excited about bringing together experimentalists and theoreticians/modelers and emphasizing the interplay between techniques and ideas concerning the complex multiscale features and properties of genomes, from bases to chromosomes. Such multiscale models and experimental strategies on many spatial and temporal scales are needed to address all components of the chromosome folding problem and the epigenomic regulation of gene expression. Our minisymposium on February 22nd featured eight speakers spanning three continents and many time zones. Despite some technical glitches, we held great discussion and chats, clearly demonstrating how community members