Nanopsace Biophysics

Introduction

There is a critical knowledge gap in biology that needs to be addressed: cytoplasmic nanospace biophysics. Nanospaces are intracellular domains found in all eukaryotes and prokaryotes where selected molecules and ions are positioned so as to convert random thermal motion into directed flow to enable reactions that would otherwise be thermodynamically unfavourable. They vary from a few to a few hundred nanometers in size and can be both mobile and transitory. They're usually situated between apposing membranes, but are contiguous with the cytosol, which differentiates them from membrane delimited organelles. Some examples of critical cellular processes occurring in nanospaces are excitation-contraction coupling in muscles, cell division, proliferation, intracellular trafficking, the stabilization and control of multiprotein complexes such as cellulose synthases, focal adhesion turnover in cell migration, calcium homeostasis and intracellular signaling. While the traditional deterministic view of these processes is inaccurate, it dominates hypothesis generation in the research community as well as both graduate and undergraduate education. Our goal is to develop appropriate probabilistic models that can be quantitatively analysed to guide future research into both healthy and diseased states, and to provide more accurate visualization tools necessary for research and education.

This workshop will examine the architecture, composition and function of cytoplasmic nanospaces, the techniques used to study them, and the development of scientifically accurate modeling and visualization tools for understanding nanospace biology. We will bring together some of UBC's and the world's pioneers in nanospace biology from many disciplines: physiology, cell biology, botany, mathematics, physics, and computer animation for the explicit purposes of

1. comprehensively assessing current knowledge about the organization, development, and regulation of intracellular nanospaces in biology;
2. assessing the current state of physical modeling, and physically and biologically accurate animated visualization essential for education and for generating research hypotheses;
3. creating and fostering the critical scientific collaborations necessary for furthering research in the field of nanospace biophysics, and
4. publication of the workshop proceedings.

"Nanospace Biophysics" is an Exploratory Workshop funded by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of British Columbia awarded to Principal Investigator Edwin D. Moore, Cellular and Physiological Sciences.