2023 Liquid Crystals Gordon Research Conference & Gordon Research Seminar

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Project Summary Significance, timeliness and rationale. NIBIB's mission is to transform through engineering the understanding of disease and its prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Life would not be possible without liquid crystalline (LC) order. The most celebrated example is the unique combination of flexibility and confining ability of cell membranes which is possible because lipids cooperatively aggregate into a lamellar LC phase in water. The phase separation underlying the lipid raft paradigm of plasma membrane organization bears all the hall- marks of inter-LC phase transitions, as does separation in suspensions of amyloidogenic protein fibrils in Alz- heimer's disease. Many viruses, e.g., SARS-CoV-2, are enveloped in a lipid membrane and they may employ LC order for packing their nucleic acid cargo. Non-biological LCs have turned out to be sensitive in detecting and reporting on the presence of pathogens and toxins, making them highly interesting for autonomous bio- /chemosensors. LC formation is thus an integral component of what keeps us healthy and causes disease, and they are emerging as a powerful tool for detecting disease agents. Although this connection is known since long, it has until now been researched only marginally, constituting an under-explored opportunity in addressing soci- etal needs. Today, the international LC research community is undergoing a rebirth, fully embracing these as- pects. Interdisciplinary crossovers where LC science meets biological, life and pharmaceutical sciences, and engineering and materials science, play a groundbreaking role in leveraging the opportunities. Additional impact on the core fields of the NIH-NIBIB mission comes from, e.g., the exploration of LC elastomers in soft actuators or implants in the human body. Objective. The chairs seek support for the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Seminar (GRS) on Liquid Crystals 2023:“ From Nature to Transformational Technology through Liquid Crys- tal Science”, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH, June 24–25 (GRS), June 25-June 30 (GRC), 2023. The joint meetings will bring together US and international researchers at the forefront of today's vibrant LC science, spanning its full breadth and connecting academia, industry and military labs, young and senior, and harnessing every opportunity to promote women and underrepresented minorities as speakers, discussing lead- ers and participants. Approach. 30 prominent speakers have confirmed our invitations to present unpublished cutting-edge research, covering, e.g., LCs in and from nature, LC-self-assembly in colloids and polymers, and in emerging applications. 52% of speakers are female and 37% are non-white. Academic speakers are comple- mented by 2 industry and 2 military research lab speakers. Additionally, 5 speaker slots will be given to excellent young scientists selected from submitted poster abstracts. To further strengthen the voice of young researchers, the GRC is preceded by the GRS, catering only to students and post-docs and providing mentoring and career advice, and during the GRC, young scientists will be given precedence in all scientific discussions.