Editorial [Hot Topic: Getting High on Single Molecule Biophysics (Guest Editor: Steven M. Block )]

The 5th biennial winter workshop on Single Molecule Biophysics (SMB) was held at the Aspen Center for Physics in Aspen, CO, over the week January of 2-9, 2009. The resort town of Aspen lies in a high mountain valley at 8,000 ft. (2440 m) elevation in the Rockies, surrounded by some of the tallest peaks in Colorado, and the stunning views from its ski slopes can literally take your breath away. But the cognoscenti know that Aspen, among its many other claims to fame, has also been a traditional rendezvous point for physicists, who gather from all over the world at the renowned Aspen Center for Physics (ACP) for its scientific programs held in the summer and winter. In a phrase, Aspen is to physics what Woods Hole is to biology, with majestic mountains replacing the serene seashore. Ullr, the Norse god of skiing, smiled once again upon the SMB meeting, because the snow-loving conferees were treated to fresh doses of Colorado's famous powder nearly every day of the week. This made for some fabulous skiing and snowboarding. Perhaps even more fortunately, the near-daily snowstorms abated during the two periods when it really counted, namely, as folks were traveling into Aspen for the start of the conference or leaving — with smiles on their faces! — at the end. It has been my personal pleasure to organize all five of the SMB conferences, which have been held in alternate winters ever since 2001, and therefore to witness first-hand the ascendancy of single molecule biophysics as a scientific discipline. This issue of Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology celebrates recent progress with a special “hot topic” volume, compiled by Editor-in-Chief Zeno Foldes-Papp, who also participated in SMB 2009 and co-authored a paper in this issue. In these pages, you will find eleven papers contributed by meeting participants, covering a broad range of subjects. Taken together, they convey the current sense of excitement and ferment in the field, and testify to the stunning progress in single molecule research that's been achieved over the past decade. Today, we routinely carry out experiments on individual biomolecules that were only pipe dreams a scant few years ago. The field of single molecule biophysics continues to enjoy widespread interdisciplinary interest, solid federal funding support, and strong growth. All in all, 110 participants were accepted to SMB 2009 (drawn from a strong pool of nearly 200 applicants), representing an increase in enrollment of 10% over 2007, despite the weakness in the economy. In fact, enrollment in the SMB conferences has increased steadily every year since these were established a decade ago. For 2009, participation had to be limited for the first time to the number of seats available in the auditorium at the ACP. Over the years, the SMB conference has grown to become the premier meeting in its field, and, as in years past, the get-together was a tremendous success by all accounts. The SMB meetings are distinguished by academic diversity, with participants drawn from a wide variety of sub-disciplines, including theoretical & experimental physics, molecular and structural biology, biochemistry, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. More than 50 short platform talks were presented over a five-day period. This year also featured two jam-packed poster sessions, with more than 75 posters. There was excellent international representation, with participants drawn from major universities in North America, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Attendees included a carefully balanced mix of established professors, junior faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and representatives from national laboratories. Approximately 23% of conferees in 2009 were women or minorities. Financial support for the meeting was raised from both public and private sources. This year, the list of sponsors included Andor Inc., Chroma Inc., Cytokinetics Inc., Hamamatsu Inc., JPK GmBH, Mad City Labs Inc., Nikon Biomedical Inc., Physik Instrumente LLP, Princeton Instruments/Roper Inc., the Royal Society for Chemistry (UK), Spectra-Physics Inc., and Carl Zeiss Inc. Major funding support also came from the National Science Foundation, which helps to underwrite many activities of the ACP. The funding raised was primarily used to defray a portion of the expenses of younger scientists and those participants traveling long distances, however, it proved possible to award at least some level of aid to nearly every one of the participants. In addition to intense, twice-daily science sessions and two (crowded!) night-time poster sessions, several special events were scheduled to enliven the proceedings. The Reception on Sunday evening featured a performance of live bluegrass music by some very talented Aspen-area musicians, The Flying Dog Bluegrass Band. It was my privilege to sit in with the band myself for a few numbers on the five-string banjo, and also to break out my mandolin for an old-time fiddle tune or two. Quite a few of the meeting participants, it transpired, were long-time devotees of bluegrass music—Cees Dekker (Technical University of Delft, Netherlands) even plays in a European bluegrass band! —and some new converts were won over as well. On Wednesday, as part of its outreach program, the ACP teamed up with a local Aspen organization to host a Physics Cafe in the mezzanine lobby of Aspen's historic Wheeler Opera House (1889), a beautifully restored Victorian-era theater in the heart of downtown. The Physics Cafe, which has become something of a local tradition, provides an opportunity for Aspen's local residents to hear firsthand why the scientists have gathered to meet and what the excitement is all about, and to pose any questions that come to mind. These tend to be lively events. This year, the Physics Cafe featured short presentations by three of our international participants, who courageously proceeded to field some wide-ranging questions: Dr. Christoph Schmidt (Georg-August University, Gottingen, Germany), Dr. Claudia Veigel (National Institute for Medical research, Mill Hill, London, United Kingdom), and Dr. Henrik Flyvbjerg (RISO National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark). The Physics Cafe was followed by the De Wolf Lecture, held in the main theater and open to the general public. This year, the lecture was delivered by Prof. James A. Spudich (Stanford University), entitled “Nature's Exquisite Nanomachines: The Dynamic and Varied City Plan of Living Cells.” His talk was well attended, and the local audience seemed fascinated to learn (some, for the very first time) about the amazing array of protein-based machines responsible for so many important processes in life, including molecular motors such as myosin and kinesin. The audience was sufficiently captivated that the question period afterwards had to be extended. I can also report, as meeting organizer, that positive feedback about the De Wolf lecture kept pouring in for the remainder of the week, including kudos offered by professional scientists living in the Aspen area.