Editorial for 'Issue focus on 2nd Costa Rica biophysics symposium - March 11th-12th, 2021'.

This Editorial describes both the motivation for, and the five articles appearing in, the Issue Focus dedicated to the 2nd Costa Rica Biophysics Symposium which was held in March 2021. Some recent history about both the symposium and developments in science occurring within Costa Rica is described. © International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022.

The Costa Rica Biophysics Symposium was conceived as a forum for faculty, scholars and students interested on cutting-edge topics in biophysics and related fields. Following the success of the first event organized in 2019 (Solís et al (2020), the second edition of the symposium took place on March 2021 with the support of the Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Costa Rica (ANC, National Academy of Sciences of Costa Rica), the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB), the German Society of Biophysics (DGfB), and the Universidad Nacional of Costa Rica (UNA). The symposium aimed to reinforce and enhance the novel network of investigators established in the 2019 event. Participation of Costa Rican presenters, either located in the country or abroad, and foreign scientists from the USA, Germany, France, and Switzerland (Solís et al. (2021a) translated into an expansion and internationalization of the previous network. Moreover, the symposium attracted a broad international audience, which increases the opportunities of further international collaboration.

The meeting was organized into 14 presentations and one keynote lecture. It was attended by researchers of the three main universities of Costa Rica: Universidad Nacional (UNA), Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) and Tecnológico de Costa Rica (TEC). Presenters from international universities were also present, including UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA; Klinikum Nürnberg Medical School, Germany; École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; Institut de Neurosciences de Montpellier, France; University of California Berkeley, USA; and The University of Chicago, USA. The topics presented in the symposium were diverse and covered cutting-edge biophysical research areas. The presentations ranged from channel electrophysiology, machine learning focused on cellular microscopy, prediction of protein–protein interactions, channelopathies and novel biophysical techniques, among others (Solís et al., 2021a). Furthermore, each lecture was followed by questions from the audience, allowing discussion, engagement and interaction between researchers in spite of the limitations of a virtual symposium.

The closing event for the symposium was a lecture by the world-renowned biophysicist Francisco Bezanilla from the University of Chicago, who engaged the audience into a master presentation of his vast research on protein voltage-sensor domains (VSD) with a focus on his recent work on the non-canonical mechanisms for VSD-mediated regulation of pore domains in voltage-gated potassium channels (Carvalho-de-Souza and Bezanilla 2019). After the consequent discussion, the symposium finished with a networking activity, where audience and presenters were able to socialize and share experiences.

Organization under the COVID-19 pandemic emergency: challenges and opportunities

Originally thought as an in-person meeting, the COVID-19 pandemic emergency forced the symposium to be conducted using a virtual platform.

Online conferences and related activities face several challenges. Lack of personal interaction is undoubtedly a key component missing in virtual settings. Other associated drawbacks, such as “Zoom fatigue”, time-zone differences and technical issues with digital platforms might also impact negatively and should be accounted for when planning (Remmel 2021). Nevertheless, virtual conferences present opportunities that are appreciated by attendees. For example, a survey by Nature showed that 74% of respondents considered that virtual conferences should continue after the COVID-19 pandemic (Remmel 2021). Positive aspects of this format include cost reduction (e.g. travelling, registration fees and logistics), decreased carbon footprint associated to travel (Remmel 2021; Wu et al 2022) and increased audience size, diversity and inclusion (Wu et al 2022).

In this regard, the Second Costa Rica Biophysics Symposium followed the trend. According to the registration platform, the event had near 136 registrations from 11 different countries and four different continents, representing an increment of 60% in the number of registered participants in comparison with the first in-person conference, which only hosted Costa Rican attendees. Furthermore, the second symposium increased the number of expositors from 8 to 15. Failures with the digital platform were not observed, and the selected time schedule allowed the participation of presenters and audience from America (GMT − 8 to GMT − 5) and Europe (GMT 0 to GMT + 2) without issues. The “Zoom fatigue” was lessened by programming breaks in-between sessions, while minimizing session’s length. Despite the reduced personal interaction, the networking activity at the end of the symposium helped the participants to circumvent partially this important drawback.

As organizers, we consider that the Second Costa Rica Biophysics Symposium was successful. The virtual mode enhanced internationalization and increased participation of presenters and attendees, while avoiding exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Further on-line or hybrid on-line/in-person modalities will be considered in the organization of further editions.

Current issue focus

The current issue focus shows a selection of three reviews and a career commentary of some of the speakers who participated in the Second Costa Rica Biophysics Symposium based on a prior announcement in this journal (Solís et al., 2021b). It collects a sample of the research presented by early career and senior scientists, investigating either in Costa Rica or abroad. The reviews show the state-of-art of investigations in optocapacitance, machine-learning focused on microscopy and single-cell models for epileptic disorders. A career commentary exposed by a Costa Rican scientist uncovers the opportunities and challenges of investigating biophysics in Costa Rica, which might be shared with other developing countries. We hope that these topics will be of the interest of the readers of Biophysical Reviews.

In the review “Invertebrate neurons as a simple model to study the hyperexcitable state of epileptic disorders in single cells, monosynaptic connections, and polysynaptic circuits”, Brenes, a researcher and Associate Professor at UCR, describes the use of Helix land snail neurons as single-cell models for epilepsy (Brenes 2022). The review discusses the harvest, subtypes, and properties of isolated neurons that make them a suitable model for in vitro studies. Furthermore, the author provides a description of the experimental conditions required for cellular excitability, outgrowth, and synaptogenesis. The article finishes with an overview of key uses of the model in the evaluation of potential drugs and the extrapolation of in vitro into in vivo activity.

The review “Optocapacitance: Physical basis and its application” by Pinto et al. describes the details and possible applications of a novel technique called optocapacitance (Carvalho-de-Souza et al 2018; Pinto et al 2022). The technique is based on light-induced capacitive currents provoked by associated temperature jumps (Pinto et al 2021). Thus, light stimulus can be effectively used to depolarize the cell membrane and, consequently, to generate an action potential. By means of nanoparticles, optocapacitance can be used for remote stimulation of neurons in vivo without the need for genetic manipulations. The authors describe, in a detailed manner, the physical basis of the technique, the advantages and disadvantages over similar technologies and the challenges for its potential in vivo application.

In the review presented by Acuña-Rodriguez et al. entitled “Live-cell fluorescence spectral imaging as a data science challenge”, the authors provide a description of the fluorescence microscopy and image analysis challenges that arise from imaging live cells containing multiple fluorescent markers (Acuña-Rodriguez et al 2022). The authors describe with detail the principles and limitations of fluorescence spectral imaging. Suggestions are provided on to how to “unmix” multichannel florescence images to resolve the individual contribution of multiple fluorophores to individual imaging channels. An outlook is provided on how novel approaches, such as deep learning, will expedite spectral unmixing and the use of other techniques e.g. fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM), to provide an additional layer of information for visualizing the progress of cellular signalling pathways in real time.

In the commentary “Solid-state NMR and hyperpolarization methods for the Research, Development, and Innovation in Costa Rican science”, Céspedes-Camacho and Matysik delve into the brief history of solid-state NMR in this developing nation and highlight the importance of inter- and multidisciplinary collaborations for the generation of new knowledge (Céspedes-Camacho and Matysik, 2022). Starting with a description of the limited instrument availability in Costa Rican and Central America, the authors discuss the importance of solid-state NMR and the integration of hyperpolarization, for different applications relevant to the region. Finally, key research accomplishments in the topic are presented.