SynSignal Coordinator co-organized biophysical conference at Lake Maggiore

Horst Vogel, SynSignal Coordinator for École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), was part of the Organizing Committee for a 2016 Thematic Meeting of the Biophysical Society, which took place in Ascona, Switzerland, from September 11-16, 2016.

Under the title “Liposomes, Exosomes, and Virosomes: From Modeling Complex Membrane Processes to Medical Diagnostics and Drug Delivery” the conference brought together experts in membrane biophysics, cell biology, synthetic biology, pharmacology, and medical diagnostics from academia and industry.

The program was divided into 13 sessions that addressed recent developments for investigating biochemical reactions and networks at, in, and across membranes of artificial and cell membrane-derived vesicles. Central themes included: Imaging membrane proteins and their biochemical reactions; vesicles in cellular trafficking and processes; lipid and protein micro-/nano-domains in membranes; transmembrane signalling in cells and cell-derived vesicles; vesicles as ultrasmall containers for (bio-)chemical reactions; vesicles as artificial cells for synthetic and systems biology; extracellular vesicles (exosomes) as diagnostic biomarkers; viral envelopes (virosomes) and vesicles for targeted drug delivery; membrane networks and tissue engineering.