In the natural course of evolution of the subject, the principles and methods developed in physical chemistry were applied to understand biology with immense success. One of the notable early applications was the translation of the Lindemann mechanism of unimolecular reaction to enzyme kinetics, pioneered by Michaelis and Menten. Linus Pauling who is justifiably called the "Father of Molecular Biology" made a remarkable discovery that sickle cell anemia has a molecular origin associated with a different form of hemoglobin molecule with a difference in electrophoretic mobility as compared to healthy hemoglobin. More recently, the energy landscape view has revolutionized the way we understand the protein folding problem now. Ultrafast spectroscopy has been used to understand photosynthesis, providing an impetus to the study of quantum coherence in biological systems. Recent years have witnessed increasing attention on the role of water in biological processes. Modern spectroscopy, computer simulations, and theoretical advances formed a powerful synergy to unravel a large number of hitherto unexplored phenomena with fascinating and often unexpected results. It is felt for some time that we should start a conference to address these latest developments.

In India, as in the rest of the world, some of these issues are being debated and studied, with a large number of young researchers taking the lead. It is also felt that this is an ideal time to organize a virtual conference that can offer a platform to practitioners in the area that borders physical chemistry and biology. We have already mentioned some of the areas. The conference shall not be and need not be confined to those areas alone. Given the huge breadth of modern physical chemistry, the hope of the conference is to bring new ideas into focus.

The emphasis of this online conference PCPB-2021 is to provide a platform for the researchers and faculty members to share insights, argue, and learn through deep-dive research findings and rigorous discussions. We hope that the number of participants would be large and they would enjoy and be benefited greatly from the high level of the academic environment through this virtual meeting that would bring enthusiasm and energy in this intricate time.