Hangzhou Water 08

Time, I think, for this announcement of a forthcoming meeting in China. Apologies that the web link below isn't up and running yet, but I'm sure it soon will be.

Workshop on Water at Biological Interfaces

Hangzhou Water08
Oct. 27-28, 2008, Hangzhou, China
http://www.sinap.ac.cn/water08/index.html

First Announcement & Call for papers

Hangzhou Water08 is sponsored by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP), cosponsored by the Zhejiang University, Organized by Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and supported by National Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Science, and Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China

Water at biological interfaces plays a crucial role in cell and molecular biology. It has become increasingly clear over the past two decades or so that water is not simply life’s passive solvent, but is an active and versatile matrix that engages and interacts with biomolecules in complex, subtle, and essential ways. Most dramatically, it affects the structure, dynamics, folding and unfolding, interactions and functions of proteins. Moreover, the structure and dynamics of protein hydration shells seem to feed back onto those aspects of the biomolecules themselves, so that biological function depends on a delicate interplay between what we have previously regarded as distinct entities: the molecule and its environment. A fundamental understanding of the properties of water at biological interfaces is also important for many practical issues, including environmental problems and technologies for desalination, purification and waste water recovery.

The workshop provides an excellent opportunity for researchers from different disciplines to review the latest progress on interfacial biological water, and exchange their experience, progress and ideas.

Chair: Philip Ball, Nature, 4-6 Crinan Street, London N1 9XW, U.K.
Co-Chair: Haiping Fang, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, CAS, Shanghai
Secretary: Shenfu Chen, Zhejiang University
Xiaoling Lei, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, CAS, Shanghai

Organizing Committee
1. Enge Wang, Institute of Physics, CAS, China
2. Xiangyang Liu, National University of Singapore, Singapore
3. Ruhong Zhou, IBM Watson and Columbia University, USA
4. Jichen Li, University of Manchester, UK
5. Yuhong Xu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
6. Jun Hu, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, CAS, China
7. Fengshou Zhang, Beijing Normal University, China
8. Gang Pan, State Key Laboratory of Environment Aquatic Chemistry, CAS, China
9. Shaoping Deng, Zhejiang Gongshang University, China
10. Shenfu Chen, Zhejiang University