16th International Biophysics Congress
The joint 16th International Biophysics Congress (IUPAB) and Biophysical Society 52nd Annual Meeting (USA)
February 2-6, 2008, Long Beach, California, USA
Brief report on the congress by Fritz Parak, former Secretary General of IUPAB
The International Biophysics Congress is the major public activity of IUPAB. The Congress is triennial, the 2005 Congress being in Montpellier, France, and the 2011 congress will be in Beijing, China.
The Long Beach Congress was jointly organized with the Biophysical Society (USA). It was arguably IUPAB’s largest Congress. More than 5500 biophysicists attended from 54 countries, although the participants from the USA represented more than 50% the registrations. A main goal of IUPAB was to ensure that biophysicists from less developed countries were represented.
IUPAB organized three award lectures. The Ramachandran lecture is named in memory of the brilliant Indian scientist Ramachandran who was a pioneer in biophysics. The lecture was presented by Professor Girjesh Govil from India. He provided a scholarly overview on the application of NMR techniques in medicine in India. Moreover, the education of young scientists in India was discussed.
IUPAB had several special meetings during the Congress, a meeting of the Executive Committee, two Councils and the General Assembly. The Congress was very successful. All fields of modern biophysics were taken into account. The generous support of UNESCO for the Ramachandran Lecture is very much appreciated by IUPAB and is gratefully acknowledged.
Posted Feb 2nd 2008, modified May 6th 2008 | Filed in Conferences