2021 Frontiers in Biophysics
Frontiers in Biophysics is a conference designed to promote collaboration and networking within the quantitative biology community in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Participants in all stages of their careers and from academic backgrounds such as math, physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, computer science, and engineering are welcome to give a talk or present a poster.
Keynote Speakers:
Christopher W. Cairo is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Alberta. He obtained a BSc in Chemistry from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. He went on to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with Prof. Laura L. Kiessling where he worked on multivalent carbohydrate-protein interactions. Chris then moved to an NIH-funded Postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. David E. Golan at Harvard Medical School where he studied the regulation of integrins in T cell adhesion. Chris joined the faculty of the University of Alberta in 2006 as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and was promoted to Associate Professor (with tenure) in 2012. He was a principal investigator in the Alberta Glycomics Centre, and is currently a Network Investigator with GlycoNet. The Cairo research group studies the function of glycoproteins and glycolipids in cardiovascular disease, cancer, and immunity. Their work takes place at the chemistry-biology interface with major projects targeting the design of inhibitors for the human neuraminidase enzymes, the recognition of carbohydrate antigens in immune response, and bioconjugate labelling strategies for glycolipids and glycoproteins.
Raymond E. Goldstein is Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at the University of Cambridge. Before his position at University of Cambridge started in 2006, he has held academic appointments at the University of Chicago, Princeton University and the University of Arizona. Raymond Goldstein is an internationally recognised leader in the fields of biological physics and nonlinear dynamics. He is distinguished for having made important mathematical contributions to those subjects as well as pioneering experimental discoveries. His broad-ranging contributions include classic work on the dynamics of pattern formation driven by long-range forces, the differential geometry of interfacial pattern formation, and the explanation for the shapes of stalactites. He has made seminal experimental contributions to the study of active matter, including developing a class of green algae as model organisms for the study of biological fluid dynamics, the physics of multicellularity, and the synchronisation of eukaryotic flagella.