Metal ions play central structural and functional roles in diverse biological systems. In enzymes, they are involved in a number of important biosynthetic pathways including the conversion of electrochemical to chemical energy and the biosynthesis of antibiotics, DNA, and an array of important metabolites. Metal ions also play key roles in the regulation and processing of DNA and RNA, in environmentally important biogeochemical cycles, and in signaling events that trigger or terminate biochemical processes. Moreover, metal-containing compounds are used for the treatment and diagnoses of diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinson’s and cancer. Understanding how metal ions function in these diverse systems requires multidisciplinary approaches across the broad fields of chemistry, biology, and physics. Fostering new collaborations and friendships among diverse scientists with complementary skills and goals is a hallmark of this conference. In addition to lectures covering a wide variety of topics, poster sessions are also 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, 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.

Michael Maroney will chair the 2012 conference and Amy Rosenzweig will chair the 2013 conference.