50 Years of Metals in Biology: the Gordon Research Conference

The 2012 Metals in Biology Gordon Research Conference was held January 22–27, in Ventura, CA. In addition to the scientific program, the conference celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first meeting, held at the New Hampton School, NH, August 20–24, 1962 under the title “Metals and Metal Binding in Biology”. Although it could not have been appreciated at the time, the initiation of the Gordon Research Conference “Metals In Biology” (MIB) has had a major impact on the international growth and development of bioinorganic chemistry (or as some prefer, metallobiochemistry) in the decades that have followed. The first meeting was chaired by G. C. Cotzias, noted for his role in the L-Dopa treatment of Parkinson's disease. The venue was a New Hampshire preparatory school whose austere accommodations were more suitable for young boys than adult conferees. This and other Gordon Conference sites lacked amenities and diversions and thus promoted the conference purpose, which was and is extensive scientific and social contact amongst conferees. At that time, inorganic chemistry and biochemistry (broadly construed) were nearly separate cultures, each yet to grasp the interdependent nature to come. This can be appreciated by a conversation between the chairman of an early meeting and one of us (R. H. H.). When asked why an inorganic chemist should attend the conference, the chairman replied “because you will find there a lot of people who know a lot about biology but almost no one who knows much about [the chemistry of] metal ions”. Indeed, the early meetings dealt with subjects far from the molecular domain such as the effect of trace metals in the diet of laboratory animals. These meetings preceded the explosive growth in structural and spectroscopic methods, protein purification, and site-directed mutagenesis, inter alia, that have proven to be vital to the development of bioinorganic chemistry as a molecular subject, one in which chemists and biochemists function with equal facility.

The conference was held every two years in the period 1962–1984 with several exceptions and yearly from 1986 to the present, reflecting the growth of the subject. For the first 20-year period, there was an intention to alternate as chairs biochemists and inorganic chemists. As the field became even more interdisciplinary, this practice was abandoned. Of the excellent conferences in this period, we note the 1973 meeting. It was the first to be chaired by an inorganic chemist and the last to be held in New Hampshire, all subsequent meetings have been held at resort hotels in Santa Barbara or Ventura, California. By this time, MIB had become better known and was increasingly attractive to both the biochemist and the inorganic chemist working in the metal ion field. Among the subjects presented—which have included reversible heme dioxygen carriers, synthetic analogues of iron-sulfur protein sites, protein crystallographic results for ferredoxins, copper-zinc superoxide dismutase—it became apparent that the two fields were clearly coalescing. Now at MIBs there is no need to consider whether a subject is biochemical or inorganic, the feature that more than any epitomizes the nature of the conferences. Nor is there any purpose in describing them as interdisciplinary. The conferences, as they have evolved, define the term, and, further, they have encouraged past or present Gordon Conference spin-offs in areas such metals in medicine, nitrogenase, molybdenum and tungsten enzymes, and iron-sulfur proteins. Further, MIB has given rise to the Gordon Research Seminar (1999-) in which graduate students and postdoctorals present their results to a peer group of young investigators in a meeting immediately following the conference itself. The MIB has taken the subject of metal ions in living systems from near obscurity to scientific prosperity over its 50-year history.

Two individuals who have shaped the nature of the conference, Paul Saltman and Ed Stiefel – both former conference chairs – are memorialized by lectureships named in their honor and supported by contributions from the MIB community. No account of the early MIB meetings could be complete without mention of the charismatic and redoubtable Paul Saltman, whose booming voice, irreverent and critical manner, and sharp intellect enlivened and influenced every meeting he attended. Saltman, a biologist, was interested in many subjects but concentrated on the nutritional roles of trace metals such as manganese, copper, zinc, and iron in the human diet. Successful presentation of a paper with Saltman in the front row was a fortifying experience, especially for the less experienced conferees. His presence at MIB extended well past the early years and into the 1990s as he became the face of the conference. Ed moved easily in both academic and industrial scientific circles. His scientific contributions included his interest in the enzyme nitrogenase and the biochemistry of molybdenum in general. He was instrumental in bringing environmental bioinorganic chemistry to the MIB conference, and seminal in the Gordon Conferences that spun out of MIB on those topics.

Fast-forwarding to 2012, the meeting has expanded from fewer than 100 participants in 1962, to a cap of 180 participants, and, as has been the case for the over twenty years, the meeting was oversubscribed. A big difference between 1962 and 2012 apparent from the conference photos is the number of female scientists speaking and in attendance. The 2012 scientific program featured nine sessions with 28 speaker slots (one was shared by three speakers), and 128 posters that dealt with topics that looked to the beginnings of the conference and also to the future of metals in biology. Session topics included Nitrogenase, a topic that dates from at least the New Year meeting of 1975–76, The Roles of Metals in Amyloid Diseases (a topic of interest to the first conference Chair), The Biochemistry of Nickel (of which there was none prior to ca. 1975), Zinc Biochemistry, Reactive Small Molecules, Metallomics and Metalloproteomics (new fields of investigation that have spawned the journal Metallomics) and in that all-inclusive spirit, a session on metalloids in biology that described studies of the biology of selenium and arsenic. Two outstanding young scientists, Mi Hee Lim and Valerie Pierre, delivered the Saltman and Stiefel lectures. All the speakers are to be congratulated in achieving the goal of the Gordon Research Conferences—to promote discussions at the frontiers of science. The date for next year's meeting, to be chaired by Amy Rosenzweig, is set (January 20–25, 2013), and we know that all scientists interested in the roles of metals in biology are looking forward to attending.

Richard H. Holm

Chair, 1973 Metals in Biology GRC

Michael J. Maroney

Chair, 2012 Metals in Biology GRC

Plate1 Richard H. Holm

Plate2 Michael J. Maroney

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