| SUNDAY |
| 2:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Arrival and check-in |
| 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Chair's reception |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | WET EARTH - HOW OUR PLANET WORKS |
| One favoured theory for the origin for the Earth's oceans and surface water is that it came from outwards degassing of our early planetary interior. Degassing is still happening today through volcanoes on land and beneath the sea. Quite a lot of this current activity involves recycling of water through the Earth's brittle crust. Progress in recent years had elucidated much of the near-surface behaviour of H2O and other common natural gas components including various oxidised (near surface) and reduced (out of contact with the atmosphere) species of C-N-S. Simple organic compounds have been recognised in volcanic hydrothermal systems, and an inorganic origin has been demonstrated for at least methane in some environments related to serpentinisation of mantle rocks. Very concentrated silicate aqueous solutions at high pressure and temperature in the Earth's mantle are important in volcanoes and on the ocean floor, and probably very vital for changing the chemistry of parts of the mantle relevant to deep volcanism, diamond genesis and kimberlite eruption. Maybe the internal distribution of H2O is as relevant to the origin of life as the evolution of genesis molecules? In this first session of the Conference we will consider some aspects of how terrestrial fluids, mainly H2O, can influence the physical behaviour of the high temperature silicate material inside the planet and how these changes of phase and mechanical properties become manifest in our daily lives, through earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and natural chemical emissions. |
| Discussion Leader: Alan Thompson (ETH-Zürich, Switzerland) |
| 7:30 pm - 7:40 pm | Alan Thompson (ETH-Zürich, Switzerland)
Introductory remarks |
| 7:40 pm - 8:35 pm | Greg Hirth (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, USA)
"Why water is required for the unique plate-like behavior of the
Earth" |
| 8:35 pm - 9:30 pm | Craig Manning (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
"In deep water: dense aqueous solutions and their role in Earth's
evolution" |
| MONDAY |
| 7:45 am - 8:45 am | Breakfast |
| 8:45 am | Conference photo |
| 9:00 am - 12:30 am | WATER IN AEROSOLS AND CLOUDS |
| In the atmosphere water is important in all of its physical states: in the gaseous phase water is the Earth's strongest greenhouse gas. The liquid and ice particles in clouds provide precipitation, modify atmospheric dynamic, radiative and electrical characteristics and play important roles in processing of other chemical species. Ice, furthermore, enhances deep convection and induces lightning and precipitation. Accurate knowledge of water's physical and chemical properties and of the processes in which it participates is a prerequisite for understanding its overall role in the atmosphere. The session will review such properties and processes, and highlight new developments concerning radiative properties of water in gaseous and condensed phases, the prevalence of metastable aqueous solution droplets subject to ice nucleation only at relatively high supersaturations, and the different chemical factors controlling cloud evolution processes. |
| Discussion Leader: Thomas Peter (ETH-Zürich, Switzerland) |
| 9:00 am - 9:15 am | Thomas Peter (ETH-Zürich, Switzerland)
Introductory remarks |
| 9:15 am - 10:10 am | Marcia Baker (University of Washington, Seattle, USA)
"The roles of water in cloud radiative and electrical phenomena" |
| 10:10 am - 10:40 am | Coffee break |
| 10:40 am - 11:35 am | Thomas Koop (ETH-Zürich, Switzerland)
"Metastable aqueous solutions in atmospheric aerosol droplets" |
| 11:35 am - 12:30 pm | Maria Cristina Facchini (Inst. Atmosph. & Climate Sci., Italy)
"Chemical effects on cloud activation with special emphasis on the
effect of organic compounds" |
| 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Poster session |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | AMORPHOUS, SUPERCOOLED AND GLASSY WATER |
| Water in its supercooled liquid and solid amorphous state(s?) may well contain important keys that we need in order to understand the liquid fully. In the current debate on the phase behaviour of metastable water, it has been argued that the high-density (HDA) and low-density (LDA) forms of amorphous ice are physical manifestations of these two postulated forms. Moreover, water has been a particular mystery in the "no man's land" between 155 and 236K. Thus, many of water's secrets may be trapped in these solid, purportedly non-crystalline phases. These two talks present very new experimental data that may begin to help us unlock these secrets. |
| Discussion Leader: Erwin Mayer (University of Innsbruck,
Austria) |
| 7:30 pm - 7:40 pm | Erwin Mayer (University of Innsbruck, Austria)
Introductory remarks |
| 7:40 pm - 8:35 pm | Alan Soper (Rutherford Laboratory, Chilton, UK)
"The structure of the low temperature forms of water as seen by neutron diffraction" |
| 8:35 pm - 9:30 pm | C. Austen Angell (Arizona State University, Tempe, USA)
"Exploring water in "No-Man's Land" by parallel annealing studies of hyperquenched samples of water and solutions" |
| TUESDAY |
| 7:45 am - 8:45 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 am - 12:30 am | AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS |
| This session will highlight exciting new developments in the structure and dynamics of aqueous solutions, having substantial impact on both chemical and biological processes. Understanding these processes should be aided by an improved understanding of both the way solute molecules are hydrated, and the ways in which the through-solvent interactions between solutes are modulated by changing the solvent conditions - e.g. pressure, temperature, pH, and adding ions. Much recent progress has been made in this area through a range of experimental techniques, backed up by progress in theory and modelling. |
| Discussion Leader: Ed Castner (Rutgers University, USA) |
| 9:00 am - 9:15 am | Ed Castner (Rutgers University, USA)
Introductory remarks |
| 9:15 am - 10:10 am | Daniel Bowron (Rutherford Laboratory, Chilton, UK)
"Ion-amphiphile interactions in aqueous solution" |
| 10:10 am - 10:40 am | Coffee break |
| 10:40 am - 11:35 am | Kenneth Harris (Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia)
"Molecular motion and solution structure: high pressure diffusion studies of water and aqueous solutions of amphiphilic solutes" |
| 11:35 am - 12:30 pm | Giulia Galli (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA)
"Ab-initio simulations of water under pressure and of simple aqueous solutions" |
| 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Poster session |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | BIOPRESERVATION AND PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY IN
LOW-MOISTURE FORMULATIONS |
| The long-term preservation of labile biological molecules and systems such as proteins, cells or vaccines typically requires storage in water-soluble solids (glasses) at relatively low water levels. The system being preserved can be as "simple" as a single protein species dispersed in a glassy matrix or as complex as intact cells or tissues. The preservation media are typically water-soluble glasses composed of water and synthetic or natural organic molecules, e.g. carbohydrates or carbohydrate polymers. The ability of such systems to preserve biological activity is sensitive not only to the physico-chemical nature of the non-aqueous components but also to chemical and physical processes that highlight water's critical role. This session will highlight recent progress in efforts to understand the physical chemistry of these complex systems, and in particular water's influence on preservation efficacy. Particular emphasis will be given to interactions between water and matrix components and to water's influence on the dynamics of degradation processes leading to loss of biological activity upon storage. |
| Discussion Leader: Christopher Roberts (Pfizer, Groton, USA) |
| 7:30 pm - 7:40 pm | Christopher Roberts (Pfizer, Groton, USA)
Introductory remarks |
| 7:40 pm - 8:20 pm | George Zografi (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA)
"Factors influencing water vapor absorption by amorphous solids
at various relative humidities" |
| 8:20 pm - 8:55 pm | Michael Pikal (University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA)
"The effect of water on the physical and chemical properties of
proteins in the solid state: protein structure, dynamics, and
pharmaceutical stability" |
| 8:55 pm - 9:30 pm | Juan dePablo (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA)
"Cryoprotectants and lyoprotectants in solution. Structure,
properties, and their relation to biopreservation efficacy" |
| WEDNESDAY |
| 7:45 am - 8:45 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 am - 12:30 am | SELF-ASSEMBLY IN WATER |
| Assemblies of polysaccharides, proteins and lipids reveal how biological molecules are designed by evolution to use the physical and chemical properties of water. From the biochemical perspective, water is a ligand whose preferential binding or rejection stabilizes or destabilizes protein conformation and combination. From the structural perspective, the fit of water networks around intricately structured saccharides creates the specificities that enable many life processes. From the physical perspective, the tension of water/lipid interfaces creates tough aggregates that define cellular and sub-cellular compartments. In all cases observation of assemblies in water lets us admire nature's solutions to difficult problems and stimulates us to use biological materials to solve some of our own problems. |
| Discussion Leader: Adrian Parsegian (National Institutes of
Health, USA) |
| 9:00 am - 9:15 am | Adrian Parsegian (National Institutes of Health, USA)
Introductory remarks |
| 9:15 am - 10:10 am | Robert Prud'homme (Princeton University, USA)
"Polysaccharide association in aqueous solution" |
| 10:10 am - 10:40 am | Coffee break
|
| 10:40 am - 11:35 am | Sergey Leikin (National Institutes of Health, USA)
"How nature uses the properties of water to organize the protein
matrix of skin and bone" |
| 11:35 am - 12:30 pm | John Nagle (Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA)
"Structure and interactions in fully hydrated lipid bilayers
determined using new diffuse x-ray diffraction methods" |
| 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Poster session |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | STRUCTURE AND DISSOCIATION DYNAMICS IN
TETRAHEDRAL LIQUIDS |
| Comprehensive and deep understanding of the unusual properties of water requires viewing this substance in the broader context of other substances that exhibit local tetrahedrality. These alternatives include silica, elemental silicon and germanium, and several polar molecular materials with tetrahedral shapes. Fundamental questions only partially answered at present concern the statistical geometry of space-filling networks (crystalline and amorphous) that these substances form, transition pathways involved as these networks kinetically interconvert, and how such networks might serve for conduction of protons and proton holes. Each of these classes of questions has variants that involve network modifications near macroscopic surfaces and in microscopically confined regions. |
| Discussion Leader: Frank Stillinger (Princeton University, USA) |
| 7:30 pm - 7:40 pm | Frank Stillinger (Princeton University, USA)
Introductory remarks |
| 7:40 pm - 8:35 pm | Francesco Sciortino (University of Rome, Italy)
"Potential energy landscape in water and silica. Basins and saddles" |
| 8:35 pm - 9:30 pm | Christoph Dellago (University of Rochester, USA)
"Proton conduction through water-filled carbon nanotubes" |
| THURSDAY |
| 7:45 am - 8:45 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 am - 12:30 am | WATER IN EXTREME BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS |
| Many of our beliefs concerning the structure, stability, and functioning of biological systems depend on the presence of, and their interaction with, water. Despite many meetings in the past, and much lip service being paid to water's biological importance, there really is very little that is solidly established scientifically concerning why it is important. One approach to improving our understanding of the biological role of water is to examine its possible function in biological systems under stress, for example low water content, high and low temperature. This session explores some of these environments and tries to pin down the role water is playing, and the implications of this. |
| Discussion Leader: Roy Daniel (University of Waikato, New
Zealand) |
| 9:00 am - 9:15 am | Roy Daniel (University of Waikato, New Zealand)
Introductory remarks |
| 9:15 am - 10:10 am | Peter Halling (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK)
"Enzyme action in (relatively) low water media" |
| 10:10 am - 10:40 am | Coffee break |
| 10:40 am - 11:35 am | C. Nick Pace (Texas A&M University, USA)
"How water affects protein stability" |
| 11:35 am - 12:30 pm | William McKinnon (Washington University, USA)
"Water on Europa" |
| 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Poster session |
| 6:00 pm | Banquet |
| 7:30 pm - 8:00 pm | Business meeting, elections, etc. |
| 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm | KEYNOTE SESSION |
| In the final session on Thursday evening, David Chandler will present his views on what is understood about water as a result of theoretical work (including both molecular simulation and analysis) carried out over the last 30 years, and what issues are interesting and important for theory to tackle in the near future. |
| Discussion Leader: Alfons Geiger (University of Dortmund, Germany) |
| 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm | David Chandler (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
"Thirty years after Rahman and Stillinger's first simulation: what have we learned and what might come next?" |
