Bradley Layton hosted a workshop entitled, "IEEE-EMBS/ASME Workshop on Nanoscale Modeling and Measurement of Mechanical Properties of Cells and Proteins" from Thursday, September 14 to Saturday, September 16, 2006. The workshop featured guest speaker, David Odde from the University of Minnesota, a current leader in nanoscale force transduction and molecular modeling strategies for neurons and microtubules. Other prominent guest speakers included Anne Plant and John Kasianowicz from NIST. Dr. Plant is a leader in the effect that collagen nanoscale structure has on cell growth.

Dr. Kasianowicz is a leader in the field of nanoscale strategies for DNA reading. Also featured were Drexel faculty Cameron Abrams (CBE), Ken Barbee (BME), Franco Capaldi (MEM), Jaydev Desai (MEM), Todd Doehring (BME), Gianluca Gallo (DUCOM), MinJun Kim (MEM), Moses Noh (MEM), Bahrad Sokhansanj (BME), Ken Strawhecker (Veeco Instruments) and Wei Sun (MEM). In addition to the fifteen morning talks, nine afternoon workshops were held where participants learned skills ranging from atomic force microscopy of cells to molecular modeling techniques for mechanically important proteins such as tubulin. Workshop participants included faculty representing SUNY Stony Brook, Villanova, University of Wisconsin, Rutgers, MIT, and students from Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania. This workshop represents a growing effort by mechanicians to apply their skillsets to problems in cell and protein mechanics. This burgeoning field is likely to fundamentally impact biology and medicine by providing life scientists with new toolsets and methodologies for attacking challenges ranging from understanding disease to restoring or enhancing biological functions.

Financial support for the conference was provided by the Greater Philadelphia Bioinformatics Alliance through a generous grant from Aydin Tozeren, and through a loan from the IEEE-EMBS with the assistance of Marvin Weilerstein. Web hosting services were purchased from the ASME.

Wei Sun (MEM), Ron Balsamo (Villanova),  Hao Lin (Rutgers), Anne Plant (NIST) Rafael Mulero (MEM), Evelyn (Bell Labs/MIT), John Kasinowicz (NIST), Xiaoling He (University of Wisconsin, MinJun Kim (MEM), Adam Zeiger (MEM), Henry Chen (MEM), Mikhail Zakharov (physics), Kate Allen (MEM), Mert Sasoglu (MEM), Dave Odde (University of Minnesota), Dave Labraca (BME) Gianluca Gallo (DUCOM), Bradley Layton (MEM), Devrim Kilinc (BME), Chad Korach (SUNY), Franco Kapaldi (MEM). Not pictured: Jeremy Purvis (Penn), Jaydev Desai (MEM), Bahrad Sokhansanj (BME), Todd Doehring (BME), Ken Barbee (BME), Ken Strawhecker (Veeco), Cameron Abrams (CBE), Moses Noh (MEM)

Workshop leaders also included: Connie Gomez (MEM), Alison Andrews (BME)