The recently created Association of Resources for Biophysical Research in Europe (ARBRE) is an open pan-European network which aims to bring together academic and industrial research infrastructures, core facilities and resource labs that provide access to biophysical instrumentation and expertise for the molecular-scale characterization of biological systems.
See: http://www.structuralbiology.eu/networks/association-resources-biophysical-research-europe The network aims to generate a community focused on broadening expertise and inspiring novel methodological development. It addresses all scientists and technicians who utilize biophysical instrumentation to characterize the intrinsic properties of biological macromolecules and the assemblies in which they are involved. The scope of technologies includes (but is not limited to): •hydrodynamic approaches: analytical ultracentrifugation, light scattering (dynamic and static), SAXS-SANS, thermophoresis, electrophoretic mobility, viscometry, ... •spectroscopies: fluorescence, infrared, circular dichroism, Raman, electron spin resonance,... •real-time biosensing based on: surface plasmon resonance, interferometry (DPI, BLI, BSI), QCM, ... •microcalorimetry, differential scanning fluorimetry,... •atomic force microscopy, single-molecule approaches, … •structural mass spectroscopy, NMR, … Details of ARBRE's initial membership, following the initial kick-off meeting in June 2014 at the Institut Pasteur (Paris, France), are available on the website (above) alongside a membership application form to join the 62 facilities/resource labs from 13 European countries that have already responded. The ARBRE coordinators are Patrick England (Paris, France) and Thomas Jowitt (Manchester, UK). The next ARBRE meeting will take place in London on January 8th/9th 2015.