International Conference on Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, June 24-27, 2012, Berkeley, California

1242975/Cortes-Camino生物工程和纳米技术领域迅速崛起，成为一个重要的研究领域，影响范围从环境到医学；然而，很少有论坛将生物学家、化学家和工程师聚集在一起，讨论他们的学科如何合作，为限制新技术和疗法发展的基本和应用问题找到新的解决方案。针对这一需求，我们正在组织第六届国际生物工程和纳米技术会议(ICBN)。这次会议将每两年举行一次，涵盖生物工程和纳米技术的广泛领域，以促进、塑造和细化该领域的新方向。这次会议的题目是“转化医学的生物纳米科学和生物工程”。智力价值由AIChE生物工程学会组织的国际生物纳米技术会议(ICBN)已成为展示、讨论和促进纳米级分子工程在生物学、生物技术和生物医学中应用的新研究的主要场所。在过去的十年里，会议轮流在美国、欧洲和亚洲的不同地点举行，有广泛的国际参与者参加。今年的ICBN定于2012年6月24-27日在加利福尼亚州伯克利举行，伯克利位于生物纳米技术活动非常激烈的地点，保证了高水平的参与。组织者的战略是计划一个项目，将几位知名的主旨演讲者与一系列受邀请和贡献的演讲结合起来，展示新兴领导者的实验室的工作。五个主题领域将是会议组织的基础：生物设备/生物传感器和分子诊断学；细胞和组织工程；药物、蛋白质和基因输送系统；用于生物应用的纳米颗粒、纳米复合材料和纳米多孔材料；合成生物学。本次会议的组织主题是“转化医学的生物纳米科学和生物工程”，重点是将在ICBN上展示的独特的生物纳米技术组合应用于提供具有成本效益的医疗保健。实现这一目标需要生物学、医学和分子工程的智力融合，而ICBN在创造方面有明显的记录。广泛的影响今年的ICBN的更广泛影响有几个方面。首先，ICBN领域的独特组合带来了影响。除此之外，组委会还专门针对相关领域的一大批新兴领导者，安排了一组演讲者，突出那些以前可能还没有收到过重大邀请的新兴领导者。组织者还认真考虑了吸引适当性别平衡的演讲者。NSF的支持将在一定程度上帮助实现这些更广泛的影响目标。会议的范围、主题和目标正好属于NSF的使命，NSF越来越致力于将物理和工程科学与生命科学相结合，鼓励多学科领域的研究和开发，教育下一代年轻研究人员，并帮助增加科学和工程领域劳动力的多样性。如果成功，这一申请将为研究生/博士后助理参与者提供部分支持，并为通常分开的顶尖科学家和工程师之间的互动提供一个论坛，以激发可能有利于经济、健康和环境相关活动的新想法。

1242975/ Cortes-CamineroThe field of bioengineering and nanotechnology has rapidly emerged as an important area of research that affects ranging from the environment to medicine; however, there few forums that bring together biologists, chemists, and engineers to discuss ways in which their disciplines can collaborate to find novel solutions to fundamental and applied problems that are limiting the development of new technologies and therapies. In response to this need, we are organizing the Sixth International Conference on Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (ICBN). This meeting will be held every two years and covers the breadth of bioengineering and nanotechnology to promote, shape, and refine new directions in the field. The title for the conference is "Bionanoscience and Bioengineering for Translational Medicine."Intellectual MeritThe International Conference on Bio-Nanotechnology (ICBN), organized by AIChE's Society for Biological Engineering, has become a premier venue for presenting, discussing and stimulating new research in the applications of nano-scale molecular engineering to biology, biotechnology and biomedicine. Over the last decade the conference has moved on a rotating basis among sites in the U.S., Europe and Asia, encompassing a broad, international set of participants. This year's ICBN is scheduled for June 24-27, 2012 in Berkeley, California, situated in a locale where bio-nanotechnology activity is very intense, guaranteeing a high-level of participation. The strategy of the organizers is to plan a program combining a few leading, high-profile keynote speakers, with a set of invited and contributed talks that will present work from laboratories of emerging leaders. Five topical areas will be the basis of the conference organization: Biological Devices/Biosensors and Molecular Diagnostics; Cell and Tissue Engineering; Drug, Protein and Gene Delivery Systems; Nanoparticles, Nanocomposites and Nanoporous Materials for Bio-Applications; Synthetic Biology. The organizing theme of this conference is "Bionanoscience and Bioengineering for Translational Medicine", focusing on bringing the unique combination of Bio-Nanotechnology presented at ICBN to bear on delivering cost-effective health care. Achieving this goal requires the intellectual intermingling of biology, medicine and molecular engineering that ICBN has a demonstrable track record of creating.Broader ImpactsThere are several aspects to the broader impacts of this year's ICBN. First, there is the impact of the unique combination of fields that come together at ICBN. Beyond this, the organizing committee is specifically targeting a broad set of emerging leaders in relevant fields with a group of speakers that gives some prominence to emerging leaders who may not yet have received significant invitations previously. The organizers have also given serious consideration to attracting an appropriately gender-balanced set of speakers. NSF support will be used in part to help achieve these broader impact objectives.The scope, theme, and aims of the meeting fall squarely within the mission of the NSF, which has been increasingly committed to integrating the physical and engineering sciences with the life sciences, encouraging research and development in multidisciplinary areas, educating the next generation of young researchers, and helping increase the diversity of the workforce in science and engineering.This application, if successful, will provide partial support for graduate student/postdoctoral associate participants, and by providing a forum for the interactions between normally separated leading scientists and engineers to stimulate new ideas that could benefit economic, health and environmental related activities.