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Welcome to SMB 2025!

About the Single Molecule Biophysics (SMB) Conference

The 12th biennial workshop on Single Molecule Biophysics (SMB) will start on the evening of Sunday, January 5th and run through Friday, January 10th, 2025 at the Aspen Center for Physics (ACP), building on the successful conferences series started in 2001.  The meeting highlights recent progress in the field of single molecule biophysics on both its experimental and theoretical frontiers. Topics vary somewhat every year. Biological systems covered in past meetings have included mechanoenzymes (myosin, kinesin, dynein, etc.), nucleic acid-based enzymes (polymerases, topoisomerases, helicases, etc.), rotary motors (ATP synthases, flagellar motors), nucleic acids (DNA, RNA, ribozymes), and various aspects of molecular physiology (folding/unfolding, binding, signaling, and other biostructural changes). Featured experimental techniques have included fluorescence, optical trapping, magnetic tweezers, scanned-probe microscopy, and approaches to super resolution microscopy. This conference traditionally admits a mixture of experimentalists and theorists. Biologists and physicists with either new-found or longstanding interests in biophysics are encouraged to apply. All levels of accomplishment are welcome: the meeting features a lively mix of both students and professors. A strictly-for-fun ski race will be held, along with other meeting activities.

The registration fee is $800 paid to the Aspen Center of Physics: this includes all four conference dinners. Dinners on Sunday and Thursday nights will be at the Limelight Hotel in downtown Aspen. Dinners on Monday and Tuesday nights will be at the Aspen Meadows Resort, to facilitate attending the evening poster sessions on those days. Note: unlike past meetings, SMB 2025 will not hold scientific sessions on Friday, due to the limited availability of housing. The conference will be housed in the Limelight hotel in downtown Aspen, as the Aspen Meadows Resort is undergoing renovations.

The SMB workshop is limited to ~90 attendees this year due to housing constraints. In the past, the meeting has been oversubscribed, so a higher priority will be assigned to applicants presenting important new findings and who commit to remain for the full duration of the meeting (January 5 - 10, 2025). In the event of oversubscription, a limit of two representatives from each participating scientific group (or collaboration) will be adopted. Moreover, we expect ~65 different groups to be represented among the 90 attendees so the percentage of groups with two attendees will necessarily be limited. With only ~38 speaking slots, we regret that we cannot guarantee all groups a talk. However, all attendees, including speakers, are invited to present a poster during the evening poster sessions. Prospective participants should submit the following:

  • A short abstract (<200 words) of the proposed scientific contribution along with a title plus the names and affiliations of any co-authors. Abstracts will be ranked and used as the basis for admission. To be explicit: abstracts that cover older material or are review-like will be ranked lower, so to maximize your chances of success please submit your strongest abstract. Abstracts from within the same group must cover distinct results.