........The International Workshop on Spectroscopy for Biology (IWSB) was idealized by prof. Shirley Schreier as a meeting of interdisciplinary nature, with a view of disseminating, among graduate students and young investigators, cutting edge techniques used to investigate biologically relevant systems. This workshop will serve to introduce students from Brazil and surrounding countries to modern biophysical techniques such as NMR, fluorescence, ESR, circular dichroism, IR, X-ray scattering, microscopies and molecular simulations. Furthermore, during this year´s workshop we will be celebrating Prof. Shirley Schreier´s 70th birthday. Prof. Schreier is one of the Biophysics pioneers in Brazil, who has always been committed with good science and education of the students.
........The workshop is now in its third edition. As previously observed in former editions, it is expected a strong participation of graduate students and post-docs, who will certainly benefit from the close contact with the leading scientist who have already confirmed participation.
........The invited speakers list includes a balanced blend of local and internationally renowned scientists, who will present overviews of their expertises in terms of biophysical techniques as well as applications that will cover subjects from protein structure and conformation, membrane properties, lipid domains, mechanisms of peptides interaction, biotechnological applications, among others. The lecturers will stay during the entire duration of the event, which will allow a deeper interaction between students and speakers. In former meetings (São Paulo, 2001; Rio de Janeiro, 2007), this has strongly contributed to create a vibrant and exciting atmosphere for scientific discussions and future collaborations.
........IWSB is a nice event in terms of setting the perfect conditions to stimulate scientific discussions and exchange of state-of-the-art knowledge between young researchers and well-known colleagues from different parts of the world. Moreover, IWSB is probably the only event in Brazil totally dedicated to modern biophysical techniques and with a size that creates an adequate forum for the Biophysical community in Brazil, and probably in Latin America, to greatly benefit from the scientific program.
• Fábio Ceneviva Lacerda Almeida (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).
