To identify the role of water in biology is a hot topic. Significant advances have occurred both in theory/modeling and experiments that identify this role since the last symposium was held at Pacifichem 2005. These range from new molecular and coarse-graining biomolecular simulations to powerful techniques of single molecule force spectroscopy, terahertz spectroscopy, magnetic relaxation dispersion, neutron scattering and dynamics surface force apparatus. The goal of the symposium is to highlight the exciting progress made by leading research groups around the world and to promote the new exchanges of ideas on this important but still somewhat controversial topic. Invited talks will illustrate the following focused areas: driving forces of encapsulation in water, thickness of hydration layers, how confinement alters water phase behavior, how does the hydrophobic force work, conditions for wet or dry hydrophobic protein cavities, water dynamics and transport inside cells and channels, ion specific effects of aqueous electrolytes on proteins. |
