The Asia Biophysics Association is a loose confederacy of the national biophysics associations of countries located in the greater Asian region. Here, we describe the history and purpose of the association along with its plans for the future.
The 10th Meeting of the Asian Biophysics Association (ABA) was held in Melbourne in December of 2018 and hosted approximately 250 delegates, and the current Special Issue of Biophysical Reviews is devoted to describing the activities taking place there (Battle et al. 2019). Currently consisting of seven member countries/regions (China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and Australia), the ABA has a long history of supporting and showcasing biophysical research conducted in the greater Asian area. The principal activity of the ABA is to hold a meeting every three years (every two years from 2009 to 2015). Initially starting in 1994 as the East Asian Biophysics Symposium (EABS), this early meeting format was principally designed to increase cooperation between biophysical scientists located in Japan and China. In the year 2000, the Korean Biophysical Society became an affiliated member of the EABS, and was soon followed by the Biophysical Society of Taiwan in 2003. Later, entries to the ABA were made by the Biophysical Societies of Hong Kong (2006), Australia (2009), and India (2009). In 2006, EABS was renamed as the ABA to accommodate the growing diversity of its membership base. Table 1 describes the EABS/ABA Meetings held over the last 25 years.
Table 1.
History of the ABA meetings
| Meeting number and date | Meeting location | Participants | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | May 16–20, 1994 | Harima, Japan | 307 (Japan (203), China (66), USA (6), Korea (6), Hong Kong (4), Taiwan(2), Vietnam (2)) |
| II | May 19–23, 1997 | Beijing, China | 350 |
| III | May 22 –26, 2000 | Kyongjyu, Korea | 250 |
| IV | Nov 4–6, 2003 | Taipei, Taiwan | 400 (Taiwan (300), Japan (50), China (20), Korea (15), Hong Kong (2), India (2), Australia (2)) |
| V | Nov 13–16, 2006 | Okinawa, Japan | 1300 |
| VI | Jan 12–15, 2009 | Hong Kong | 350 (Hong Kong (144), Japan (52), China (41), Taiwan (40), Korea (35), India (19), Australia (4), Others (17)) |
| VII | Jan 29–31, 2011 | Delhi, India | Numbers not available |
| VIII | May 26–29, 2013 | Jeju, Korea | 290 (Korea (172), Japan (39), China(23), Taiwan (29), Hong Kong (7), India (7), Australia (7), Others (8)) |
| IX | May 9–12, 2015 | Hangzhou, China | 400 (Japan(~20), Australia ~6) |
| X | Dec 2–6, 2018 | Melbourne, Australia | 239 (Australia (150), Japan (44), China (15), Hong Kong (7), Taiwan (5), India (5), Korea (5), Singapore (3), Thailand (1), UK (1), Sweden (1), Germany (1)) |
The Chief Officer of the ABA is the President, who is elected by ABA board members made up of representatives from the individual member societies. Traditionally, the president is elected from the country that hosted the ABA meeting last. The Presidency is held on a rotating basis depending on the country and venue of the upcoming triennial meeting. The current ABA President is Dr. Danny Hatters of the University of Melbourne, the immediate Past-President is Prof. Xiyun Yan of the Institute for Biophysical Science, Beijing. The next meeting of ABA will be held in 2021 in Taiwan.
The ABA continues to develop its membership amongst biophysical scientists located in the Asian geographical region and also continues to support these scientists by offering a venue for presentation and recognition of their work. The practical benefits of having a conference situated on a similar time-zone will be appreciated by any who have suffered terrible jet lag when attending meetings a 20-hour plane ride away. By agreement amongst its constitutive members, the official language for the ABA triennial meetings is English—making these symposia attractive venues for scientists working and living outside of Asia who are interested in attending a large meeting (typically ranging from 300 to 500 presenters). We hope this Commentary will have sparked the Reader’s interest in joining us at the next ABA Meeting in Taiwan in 2021—we hope to see you there!
Acknowledgements
DH and HN gratefully thank Assoc. Prof. Damien Hall for his helpful comments on an early draft.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest
Danny Hatters declares that he has no conflict of interest. Hiroyuki Noji declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Footnotes
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Contributor Information
Danny Hatters, Email: dhatters@unimelb.edu.au.
Hiroyuki Noji, Email: hnoji@appchem.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Reference
- Battle Andrew R., Norton Raymond S., Böcking Till, Noji Hiroyuki, Kim Kyeong Kyu, Nagayama Kuniaki. Editorial: Special issue of Biophysical Reviews dedicated to the joint 10th Asian Biophysics Association Symposium and 42nd Australian Society for Biophysics Meeting, Melbourne, Australia, December 2–6, 2018. Biophysical Reviews. 2019;11(3):245–247. doi: 10.1007/s12551-019-00553-y. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]