Report on International Travel Support
Prof. Frank Ferrone,
Department of Physics
The Symposium on New Challenges in Protein Science was held from June 4-6 in the University
of Parma, Italy, a celebrated seat of learning since the 11th century. The venue was the imposing
Aula Magna, decorated with original reliefs by
Pomodoro which provided a modern
counterpoint to the traditional appearance of
this great 16th century room. (see picture) Like
the setting, the meeting itself provided
contemporary insights to long established
issues in Protein Science.
The first session focused on Diseases and
Drugs, initiated by Dr. Ira Pastan of the NIH
(Smart Drugs for Cancer) and by Sir Alan
Fersht of Cambridge (Tumour supresor p53).
That session continued with Prof. Frank Bunn
(Harvard) discussing hypoxia. I gave a talk
(discussing sickle cell hemoglobin) and Dr. Tzvi Kam
(Weizman Institute) addressed cell-based screening
microscopy. The right photo shows Dr. Eaton,
myself, and Dr. Schuler (Zurich).
The next morning began with a session on Protein
Structure and Evolution. This session featured
lectures by Dr, David Davies (NIH), Prof. Maurizio
Brunori (Rome), Dr. Ad Bax (NIH), and Prof. Angela
Gronenborn (Pittsburgh).
The following session was directed toward the theory of Protein Folding, with lectures by Orland
(Saclay), Thirumalai (Maryland) and Onuchic (UCSD), and Prof. Eugene Shaknovich (Harvard).
Particularly stimulating was the lecture of Prof. Shaknovich describing the evolutionary response
to underlying protein physics.and was followed the next morning by discussions of the
experimental counterparts. In that session, Lorimer (Maryland), Levitt (Stanford), Mozzarelli
(Parma), Henry (NIH) and Hochstrasser (Penn) all spoke. The meeting finally concluded with a
session on single molecule protein folding.
Dr. Attila Szabo (NIH) gave an important and
insightful talk describing single molecule force and fluorescence. Dr. Ben Schuler (Zurich)
described structure and dynamics of non-native proteins determined by such spectroscopy. Prof.
Victor Munoz (Madrid) discussed downhill folding, and finally Prof. Joe Puglisi (Stanford)
described issues relevant to protein synthesis.
The scientific portion of the meeting concluded with remarks from Dr. William Eaton, in whose
honor the conference was held. These were followed by a ceremony in City Hall which Dr.
Eaton received the “Freedom of the City” award. Remarkably, the local newspaper covered the
bestowal, as described below.
The outcome of the meeting involved new contacts for me as well as solidification of old
friendships. A visit is being arranged with Dr. Michael Levitt to Drexel in the spring; Dr.
Szabo’s work illuminated a number of ongoing projects at Drexel with theoretic work of which I
was unfamiliar.