SMALP-23 Conference

This inaugural International Conference on Native Membrane Nanoparticles is being held in Knoxville, Tennessee from Oct 19 -22, and will bring together leading scientists from various disciplines, including biochemistry, biophysics, spectroscopy, chemical biology, polymer chemistry, advanced imaging, and cell biology.

The development of innovative extraction methods, such as copolymers like SMA, membrane protein scaffolds, saposins, peptidiscs, and native vesicle extractionhas driven progress in this field. Amphipathic polymers fragment membranes into water-soluble discs, allowing the complex structures and interactions found in vivo to be discerned, without requiring synthetic detergents or artificial lipids. This is yielding new insights, tools and models of how membranes operate and can be manipulated.

Download Program

Registration

• Register for the Conference
• Free Bus tour to Oak Ridge National Lab's Spallation Neutron Source on Oct 23 requires registration and visitor badging via the  ORNL Personnel Access System prior to entrance. The bus will pick you up at Hotel and return ~12:30PM. If you did not register initially, please contact bbruce at utk.edu and we will see if you can still be added.

Accommodation

• Hilton Knoxville Hotel (1-865-523-2300) is a one minute walk
• Cumberland House (1-865-971-4663) is a nine minute walk
  

Venue: University of Tennessee Conference Center, Knoxville, TN

Dates: The scientific sessions run from 9am on Oct 20, 21 and 22. Also included are a workshop, poster sessions, coffee from 8am, lunches, conference dinner on Saturday

Travel: Taxi or uber from McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) to the conference hotels in 20 minutes, parking vouchers available. Other airports in the region include Chattanooga, Nashville, and Atlanta., and are 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 hour drives away.

Keynote Lectures

Alice Rothnie, Senior Lecturer, Aston U: My SMALP journey.
How it started....how it's going.

Chuck Sanders, Professor, Vanderbilt U: How Amphipol Polymers and their Applications in Membrane Research Differ from SMALP Polymers

Sandro Keller, Professor, U Graz: New Native Nanodiscs
for Membrane-Protein Biophysics

Steven Sligar, Professor, U Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Investigating cancer signaling and vaccine development with MSP-based nanodiscs

Invited Speakers

Alexander Nevzorov, Professor, North Carolina State U: Magnetically aligned peptoid-stabilized lipid macrodiscs for structural studies of membrane proteins by solid-state NMR

Bert Klumpermann, Professor, Stellenbosch University: RAFT-mediated polymerization to enhance functionality in the SMALP technology

Doreen Matthies, Head, Unit on Structural Biology, NIH: Cryo-EM structures of E. coli mechanosensitive channel MscS and bovine mitochondrial complex III in styrene maleic acid nanodiscs

Henry Liang, Associate Professor, Texas Tech: From Detergent to Membrane-Scaffold Polymers: A Look into the Structural Heterogeneity of SMALPs Through the Lens of SMA Detergency

Huan Bao, Assistant Professor, Scripps Institute Florida; Circularized nanodiscs to characterize membrane perforation

Kallol Gupta, Assistant Professor, Yale: Deciphering molecular organization of membrane proteins in their native membrane

Jan Kubicek, Scientist and MD, Cube Biotech: Beyond Boundaries: The Crucial Role of Method Spectrum in Membrane Protein Studies

Michael Marty, Associate Professor, U Arizona: Identifying Membrane Protein-Lipid Interactions with Lipidomic Lipid Exchange-Mass Spectrometry

Michael Overduin, Professor, U Alberta: Functionalization of Membranes by the Proteolipid Code

Moitrayee Bhattacharyya, Assistant Professor, Yale U: Determination of oligomeric organization of membrane proteins from native membranes at nanoscale-spatial and single-molecule resolution

Paula Booth, Daniell Professor of Chemistry, King’s College, London: Co-translational membrane protein folding in native lipid environments

Thirupathi Ravula, Scientist II, National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Thorsten Schmidt, Assistant Professor, Kent State U: DNA-based lipid bilayer mimetics

Youzhong Guo, Assistant Professor, VA Commonwealth U: Cryo-EM structures of a mechanosensitive channel, E.coli MscS, in the native cell membrane nanoparticles

Selected speakers

Brian Long, University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Alternatives to SMA and DIBMA copolymers for membrane protein solubilization via nanodisc formation.

Caroline Brown, Yale University: Capturing membrane snapshots: A quantitative proteome-wide guide for high-throughput spatially-resolved extraction of membrane proteins for structural/functional studies on native membranes

Evelyn Okorafor, Miami University, Oxford: The effect of lipid saturation on the structure of styrene maleic acid lipid nanoparticles (SMALP)

Lars Deutz, U Texas Austin: Membrane extraction in native lipid nanodiscs reveals dy-namic regulation of Cdc42 complexes during cell polarization

Lauren Ball, Stellenbosch U: Universal-RAFT mediated synthesis of double hydrophilic SMA-b-PVP copolymers for surface immobilization of SMALPs

Lynnicia Massenburg, Pennsylvania State U: Structural organization of the Physcomitrium patens cellu-lose synthase 5 (PpCesA5) homotrimeric assembly

Mark Arcario, Washington U: Larger nanodiscs support a more native-like membrane environment across a range of lipid types

Muhammad Zeeshan Shah, Miami University, Oxford:Vinyl Ether and Maleic Anhydride Copolymerization Forming Lipid Nano Discs to Study Membrane Protein

Nancy Rotich, Miami University, Oxford, OH: A Comparison of the Effect of SMA Derivatives on the Structural Topology and Dynamics of two Bacteriophage Peptides

Nathan Brady, University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Small angle neutron scattering and lipidomic analysis of a native, trimeric PSI-SMALP from a thermophilic cyanobacteria

Olivia Fiebig, Penn State U: Exploring inter-protein energy transfer in the photosynthetic antenna network of purple bacteria with nanodiscs

Olivia Hawkins, Aston University, UK: Investigation into the basis of protein-lipid interactions for ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters, using novel polymer-based solubilisation methods.

Ryan Schuck, University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Cholesterol inhibits oncogenic EphA2 assembly & activation

Shakiba Nikfarjam, LLNL: Enhancing Solubilization and Stability of Membrane Proteins for High-Throughput Antibody Screening Using Polymer Nanodiscs

Shushu Wei, University of Tennessee Knoxville: Single-Molecule Visualization of Human A2A Adenosine Receptor Activation by a G Protein and Constitutively Activating Mutations

Simon Umbach, Goethe-University of Frankfurt: Synergies of nanoparticles and cell-free expression for the cryo-EM analysis of GPCRs and their nanotransfer into living cells

Snehasish Ghosh, Yale University: Membrane-active-polymers (MAPs): A platform to preserve membrane proteins in their local interactome

Soumya Chandrasekhar, Kent State U: Polyethylene glycol-modified DNA-based nanodiscs for in-corporation and characterization of membrane proteins

Local Organizers

Barry Bruce and his colleages Brian Long, Elizabeth Fozo, Francisco Barrera, Hugh O'Neill, Rajan Lamichane and Shuo Qian

SMALP-23 International Conference Sponsors include:

University of Tennessee Knoxville, BCMB, Micro, Chemistry, ORIED, Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, Cube Biotech, Fluidic Analytics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Anatrace,Nikon, Echelon Biosciences, Genscript, Glycon, Aurorium.

Background on SMALP

The SMALP system is being developed by the international research community as an alternative to conventional detergents, which tend to dissociate, destabilize and deactivate native membrane proteins.

A variety of amphipathic polymers like styrene maleic anhydride have been found to directly and spontaneously solubilize proteins and bound lipids from membranes when activated. This provides opportunities for understanding and exploiting the structure and function of native membrane protein complexes.

As SMALP technology is relatively new, the participation of the wider community and sharing of new ideas and practices amongst researchers is the best way to ensure continued rapid development of the field.

Join our network and come to our meetings to discover how SMALP materials and methods could be used in your research.

Join our community.

The SMALP network offers polymers, methods and meetings to support the growing community of scientists and companies interested in the preparation of membrane nanodiscs formed by polymers including styrene maleic acid for biological research and drug discovery applications.

Register for a day of insightful talks from experts in the structural biology and functions of membrane proteins and nanodisc development, discussions with academic and industry leaders, and enjoy breakfast, lunch and coffee breaks on us.

These events are offered to bring together academic and industry experts, postdocs and students who are interested in membrane protein structural biology, lipidomics, proteomics, target discovery and biophysical analysis of bilayers and amphipathic polymers.

We welcome researchers from across academia and industry to join us in lively discussions and debate about the latest advances in native nanodiscs, membrane proteins, polymer chemistry, lipid biophysics, structural biology, and applications including drug discovery and delivery.