In biology there is an established principle that is starting to waver because it is incomplete. This has to do with the belief that proteins, –the workers of cell-, necessarily adopt a certain form to carry out their functions. For the last ten years, structural biologists, biophysicists and bioinformaticians have been analysing the so-called Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDPs), the main feature of which is that, in spite of not adopting a well defined fold, they exert key functions in cells. Many of these proteins are involved in key cellular processes and in pathologies of great impact such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Together with IRB Barcelona researcher Pau Bernadó, and Peter Wright, from the Scripps Research Institute of the U.S., Miquel Pons is co-organising the Barcelona Biomed Conference to be held from 4 to 6 October at the Institut d'Estudis Catalans. "Intrinsically Disordered Proteins in Biomedicine" is the first of three Barcelona Biomed Conferences organised by IRB Barcelona and the BBVA Foundation in 2010.

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