Join the international molecular biology community for the ultimate learning and networking experience at the University of Leeds, 8-9 April 2024.
Over two days, Astbury Conversation 2024 will bring people together from across the globe to discover, explore and inspire ideas whilst showcasing the innovations making waves in molecular biology.
This year’s theme is ‘Illuminating Life’, which will shine a light on the hidden – and fascinating – world of macromolecules.
Network with colleagues and hear from range of speakers including multi-award winner, Professor Xiaowei Zhuang, a trailblazer in biophysics and one of the pioneers in the STORM imaging method, providing unprecedented detail on the structures within living cells.
Astbury Conversation is for anyone with an interest in the world of molecular biology, biophysics and medicinal chemistry, including academics, researchers, and businesses.
Programme Highlights
Astbury Conversation
A two-day academic conference at the University of Leeds with talks from invited speakers and proferred abstracts
Astbury 2024 Public Lecture
Xiaowei Zhuang works in the areas of single-molecule biology and bioimaging, developing imaging techniques to study biological systems quantitatively
The Astbury Roadshow
A series of interactive engagement events at local high schools
Astbury Poster session
An opportunity for researchers to display their work and network with potential collaborators
Invited Speakers
Astbury Conversation 2024 Keynote Speaker
Xiaowei Zhuang is an investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the David B. Arnold Professor of Science at Harvard University. She pioneered the development of super-resolution imaging and genome-scale imaging methods. She invented STORM, a super-resolution imaging method, and discovered novel molecular structures in cells using STORM. She invented a single-cell transcriptome and genome imaging method, MERFISH, and made discoveries in the areas ranging from the cellular organization and functions in the brain to the 3D genome organization and gene regulation in cells using MERFISH.
Zhuang received her B.Sc. degree in physics from the University of Science and Technology of China, her Ph.D. in physics under the supervision of Prof. Y. R. Shen from University of California at Berkeley, and her postdoctoral training in biophysics in the lab of Prof. Steven Chu at Stanford University. She joined the faculty of Harvard University in 2001 and became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in 2005.
Zhuang is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a foreign associate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the European Molecular Biology Organization. She received honorary doctorate degrees from the Stockholm University, the Delft University of Technology, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She has received many awards, including the Dreyfus Prize in Chemical Sciences, the Heinrich Wieland Prize, J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, the FNIH Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize, the National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery, the Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics, the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics, and the MacArthur Fellowship.