We are excited to announce the Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting entitled Understanding Peripheral Membrane Protein Interactions: Structure, Dynamics, Function and Therapy. This meeting will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece from November 9 – 13, 2025.

Membrane proteins are integral to signal transduction and many other critical cellular processes. Peripheral membrane proteins (PMPs) are a class of membrane proteins that attach to the lipid bilayer acting on the lipid-water interface in contrast to transmembrane proteins, which are fully embedded in the cell membrane. Many PMPs are fully soluble in water and interact with a bilayer reversibly through structural domains, electrostatic interactions, non-specific hydrophobic interactions, or using a cascade of binding events of other cytosolic proteins. While peripheral membrane proteins comprise a significant percentage of all membrane proteins and perform essential functions in the cell, they have not been extensively studied mainly due to the complexity of the protein-membrane interface and the limited number of structural studies of PMP-membrane complexes. For example, the KRAS and PI3Kα oncogenes, two of the most prominent drug targets in cancer, and α-synuclein, a major target in Parkinson’s disease, still lack broadly used FDA-approved drugs in part because of the lack of a suitable theoretical background, experimental data or computational methods to enable the development of therapeutic agents that target the lipid-protein interface. This meeting will focus on recent advances on PMP studies, including their interaction with membranes and roles in health and disease, as well as their targeting for drug design. The presentations will include both experimental and computational work, with emphasis on conceptual and technological limitations to a better structural and functional understanding of PMPs, and how to overcome those limitations in future.

Visit the website for the program overview and list of speakers. Please share this information with colleagues who may be interested in attending.  

We look forward to your contributions and your enthusiastic participation in this stimulating meeting!

Program Co-Organizers

Matthias Buck, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Zoe Cournia, Biomedical Research Foundation Academy of Athens, Greece
Alemayehu Gorfe, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, USA
Themis Lazaridis, The City College of New York, USA