IUTAM Symposium on Cellular, Molecular and Tissue Mechanics; held Woods Hole, MA, June 18 & 21, 2008

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This IUTAM Symposium on Cellular, Molecular and Tissue Mechanics will bring together mechanicians having an interest in biological systems, with biophysicists and biologists in order to address the mechanical basis of Biology at the molecular, cellular and tissue scales. It will be held between June 18 and 21, 2008 at the US National Academy of Sciences' Jonsson Conference Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Between 60 and 80 attendees from the US and abroad are expected. The benefits to Science from the Symposium are: (a) It will provide an unprecedented opportunity to extend the study of Mechanics in Biology to the cellular and molecular levels, from the more traditional biomechanical focus on tissues. (b) Since biophysicists and biologists apply ideas of Elasticity and Structural Mechanics quite widely in studying molecules and cells, there is a strong reason to bring together the communities of Mechanics and Biology and catalyze greater interaction between them. The convening of the Symposium in the US will promote the continued leadership role of US academic institutions in this emerging discipline. Deciphering the mechanical basis of Biology is expected to qualitatively transform the understanding and treatment of disease in the future, thereby delivering significant benefits to Health Care. Support of the Symposium by the NSF is indicative of the premium importance placed on interdisciplinary, leading edge science that has the potential to improve the health of a longer living population. The Symposium will include a poster session exclusively for graduate/undergraduate students and post-doctoral researchers. It will thus help train the next generation of scientists in this emerging discipline. The Symposium will foster an international exchange of ideas, since roughly half the participants will come from countries besides the US. It will culminate in a panel discussion with the objective of identifying issues of critical importance in cellular, molecular and tissue mechanics for the next 5 to 10 years.