Upcoming Events - MAF 2022
Save the date: September 12, 2024
Satellite Workshop at the Method and Applications in Fluorescence (MAF) conference in Valencia, Spain.
Past Events
Business Meetings
The business meeting was held at the Biophysical Society meeting in San Diego, CA, on February 15 from 11-12. During the meeting, the current community efforts and future directions where discussed. The video livestream of the meeting is available below.
- General introduction and overview of elections (Claus Seidel) 0:00-7:00
- The FRET community website: Present and future (Anders Barth) 7:00-15:00
- Past and future FRET meetings (Hugo Sanabria) 15:00-20:00
- Elections of the advisory board (Don C. Lamb) 20:00-30:00
- FRET community challenges I: Proteins (Don C. Lamb) 31:00-34:00
- FRET community challenges II: kinSoftChallenge (Anders Barth) 34:00-36:00
- Future directions of the community: Overview of mission statements (Jelle Hendrix) 36:00-40:00
- Open discussion: Agenda for the satellite meeting at MAF2020 40:00-50:00
- Open discussion: Future meetings at the BPS 50:00-60:00
Satellite Workshops
The FRET Satellite Meeting was held at the Methods and Applications in Fluorescence (MAF) conference in Gotherburg, SE, on September 14-15, 2022. It brought together the wider FRET community to provided deeper insights into the latest developments of the field. To cover the wide application range of FRET, the meeting was structured into three sessions on confocal smFRET for extracting dynamics, dynamics from surface-immobilized smFRET, and DNA-nanotechnology and biosensing. Beyond invited lectures by senior speakers, there was time reserved for selected short talks by junior researchers and young investigators.
A satellite workshop was held at the Methods and Applications in Fluorescence meeting at UCSD, San Diego, August 19-20, with the aim of providing dissemination for beginner and intermediate users of FRET and discussing community efforts. On the first day, lectures provided the historical context of the discovery and mathematical description of FRET and discussed different approaches of measuring FRET on the single-molecule level and live-cell imaging. In addition, breakout sessions discussed practical aspects of performing measurements, preparing samples and the workflow of data analysis in solution-based single-molecule FRET. On the second day, various approaches for measuring dynamics in single-molecule FRET and image correlation spectroscopy from nanoseconds to seconds-minutes were presented. Application talks discussed FRET experiments in viruses, fluorescent-base analogs and the combination of FRET and super-resolution microscopy.
Satellite Meetings
FRET in Biophysics at BPS 2019
During the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society Meeting in Baltimore, 2019, and in coordination with the Biophysical Society and the Biological Fluorescence Subgroup, the “FRET in Biophysics” discussion forum was conceived to rally the scientific community with special interest in quantitative fluorescence methods, with emphasis in Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). Expert panelists were invited to provide different perspectives on (i) quantitative FRET imaging, (ii) future opportunities for quantitative FRET, (iii) the users view of FRET, (iv) FRET for kinetic analysis, and (v) challenges in software development with focus on interoperability. The panelists highlighted the strength of fluorescence image spectroscopy to address challenging cellular biophysical questions, presented cutting edge development in single-molecule FRET, reported on the challenge in empowering non-experts to use fluorescence as an analytical technique, and the need for lab-wide documented implementation of published and tested algorithms and data exchange formats for fluorescence based integrative modeling and inter-operable software. The short presentations were preceded by polling the community into FRET challenges: activities that serve to establish recommended procedures, validate algorithms and convey the quantitative aspect of FRET in benefit of the FRET community. In the open panel discussion, the participants agreed that (i) the organized dissemination of knowledge, (ii) the recommendations, validations, and data sharing without impingement of scientific freedom, (iii) and an improved participation of the field are essential for further development of the field.
FRET conferences
On occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth and 65 years after his first publication on resonance energy transfer, the first international meeting on Förster resonance energy transfer in the life sciences took place in Göttingen, Germany, in 2011 to honor Prof. Theodor Förster’s achievements by celebrating FRET as one part of his rich scientific legacy at its original site. In 2016, the FRET meeting was renewed and again held in Göttingen. More information can be found here.
In 2021, many members of the FRET community came together to assess the state of the field.
The resulting position paper is a combination of the history of smFRET, a review of techniques, an assessment of experimental challenges and their solutions, an appeal for open science, and a perspective for the field and – most importantly – the community.
