The 2012 Metals in Biology Gordon Research Conference (MIB-GRC) marks 50 years since the first meeting in the summer of 1962. The 2012 conference will celebrate this milestone and look forward to the next 50 years.

Metal ions play critical structural and functional roles in biological molecules. In enzymes, they serve as catalytic centers in important biosynthetic pathways such as nitrogen fixation, methane oxidation, and the synthesis of a variety of metabolic products, including those derived from small molecules. Metals also play important roles in sensing small molecules, in the regulation of gene expression, and in a number of diseases and therapeutics. Understanding how metal ions function in these diverse systems requires multidisciplinary approaches across the broad fields of chemistry/biochemistry, biology, and physics. The MIB-GRC brings together scientists from diverse backgrounds to foster new collaborations that take advantage of complementary skills. In addition to lectures covering a wide range of topics, poster sessions are held to facilitate discussions in an open atmosphere.

The Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) in Bioinorganic Chemistry is closely associated with the MIB GRC. This meeting typically draws graduate and postdoctoral students from a diverse array of laboratories studying metals in biology. It overlaps with the MIB GRC meeting for one evening session on Thursday, which includes a poster session that allows students to meet and interact with established scientists in their areas of research. We specifically encourage graduate students and postdocs to take advantage of these unique educational opportunities and to participate in either the MIB GRC conference or the Bioinorganic Chemistry GRS or both.

Typical talks and posters include: Biological and biophysical characterization of new metal containing proteins, enzymes, nucleic acids, factors, and chelators from all forms of life; Synthesis, detailed characterization, and reaction chemistry of biomimetic compounds; Novel crystal and NMR structures of biological molecules and synthetic metal-chelates; Discussions of the roles that metals play in medicine, maintenance of the environment, and in biogeochemical processes; Metal homeostasis; Application of theory and computations to the structure and mechanism of metal-containing biological systems; and Novel applications of spectroscopy to metals in biological systems.

Amy Rosenzweig will chair the 2013 conference and Joan Broderick will chair the 2014 conference.