Traversing the Periodic Table to Tackle Modern Challenges in Energy, Environment, and Human Health

Metal ions are central to biology. From serving as structural and regulatory elements to catalyzing complex metabolic transformations to maintaining global gas cycles, the importance of metals cannot be overstated. Metals were essential for the emergence of early life and microbes can correspondingly use metals to reshape the environment around them. The breadth of reactivity accessible to natural metal-containing systems has motivated the design of bioinspired and biomimetic synthetic models, which are increasingly important to sustainable energy solutions. The unique properties of metals have led to important medical advances and necessitated development of new physical methods, and modern computational biology and multimodal “omics” techniques are finding metals in places never before imagined. It is an exciting time for the field of bioinorganic chemistry! The 2026 Metals in Biology GRC will pursue these and other long-standing questions as well as herald emerging trends made possible by technological breakthroughs.

The Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) in Bioinorganic Chemistry is closely associated with the Metals in Biology GRC. This meeting typically draws graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from a wide range of laboratories interested in metals in biology. The GRS overlaps with the GRC meeting for one evening session on Sunday, including an energetic poster session that allows students to meet and interact with established scientists in their research areas. We specifically encourage young scientists and trainees to take advantage of these unique educational opportunities and to participate in both the Bioinorganic Chemistry GRS and the Metals in Biology GRC.