EMBO Workshop "Mechanisms of membrane fusion"

Fusion of biological membranes is fundamental to all living organisms and includes a wide range of processes such as infection by enveloped viruses, sperm-egg fusion during fertilization, exocytosis of synaptic vesicles, or the formation of syncytia. Fusion is mediated by diverse protein families, many of which are well known, but novel fusion proteins are still being discovered. Major progress has been made in the mechanistic understanding of membrane fusion. In addition to structural biology, high-resolution imaging and other biophysical approaches at the nanoscale have advanced the field, complemented by refined quantitative physical models describing molecular details of transition states and the free energy barriers that need to be overcome by fusion proteins.

It is the purpose of this EMBO Workshop to bring together scientists from different fields ranging from cell biology to theoretical biophysics, who share an interest in fusion mechanisms, to discuss the latest developments in the field.

https://meetings.embo.org/event/23-membrane-fusion

Funded by EMBO and DFG

Image credits: Alexey Chizhik, Third Institute of Physics, University of Göttingen