| SUNDAY |
| 2:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Arrival and Check-in |
| 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm | Reception |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | CELL BIOLOGY OF THE RNA WORLD |
| Recent work has highlighted essential roles for structural and regulatory RNAs in cell physiology. This is true in terms of understanding the cellular basis and applications for new RNAi technology; a reverse genetic method based on the capacity of an antisense RNA to block the specific activity of genes. It also extends to newly discovered small RNAs and their roles in endogenous gene expression. For this session, we have selected a number of outstanding scientists who have made major contributions to this new field. |
| Session Chair: Gary Ruvkun |
| Victor Ambros (Dartmouth)
"Small Noncoding RNAs" |
| Brenda Bass (U Utah)
"dsRNA in C. elegans: RNA editing and RNAi" |
| Andrew Fire (Carnegie Inst.)
"Gene silencing mechanisms in C. elegans" |
| Craig Hunter (Harvard)
Short Talk: "Genetic analysis of systemic RNAi in C. elegans: insights into intercellular trafficking of RNA" |
| Gary Ruvkun (Mass General)
"C. elegans mutants with enhanced RNAi" |
| MONDAY |
| 7:30 am - 8:30 am | Breakfast |
| 8:30 am | Group Photo |
| 9:00 am - 12:30 pm | BIOLOGICAL SENSORS |
| This session highlights cutting edge work on the unique signaling mechanisms that allow organisms to sense changes in the environment. Two of the speakers were selected on the basis of their recent, influential studies in defining pathways for pheromone and environmental responses during organogenesis. We have coupled this with cutting-edge work on defining the biochemical machinery that underlies circadian rhythmicity in the absence of environmental stimuli. Although circadian clocks persist in the absence of external cues, they also must respond to changes in the environment. |
| Session Chair: Susan Mango |
| Catherine Dulac (Harvard)
"Molecular Biology of Pheromones:
from Genes to Behaviour" |
| Ravi Allada (Northwestern)
"Circadian Clocks in Drosophila" |
| Benjamin Alba (UCSF)
Short Talk: "How a Protease Cascade Transduces a
Stress Signal in the E. coli Extracytoplasmic Stress
Response" |
| Susan Mango (U Utah)
"How to Build an Organ: Pharynx Formation in C. elegans" |
| 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm | Free Time |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Poster Session I - Main Viewing |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | CHROMATIN ORGANIZATION & DIVISION |
| In eukaryotic cells, DNA is complexed with nucleosomes to create higher-order repressive chromatin structure. The association of nucleosomes with DNA is dynamic, and the regulation of the architecture is key to faithful DNA repair and recombination, transcription, and chromosome segregation. This session focuses on the pathways for directing changes in chromatin structure, either by post-translational modifications or physical remodeling, and how these pathways impact cell growth and development. |
| Session Chair: Angelika Amon |
| Shelley Berger (Wistar, U Penn)
"Histone covalent modifications in gene regulation" |
| Carl Wu (NIH)
"ATP dependent chromatin remodeling protein complexes for transcription" |
| Hiten Madhani (UCSF)
Short Talk: "Euchromatin: not just a default state" |
| Angelika Amon (MIT)
"Control of chromosome segregation in eukaryotes" |
| TUESDAY |
| 7:30 am - 8:30 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 am - 12:30 pm | CELL CYCLE REGULATION |
| One of the central areas of cell biology for the last twenty years is regulation of the cell division cycle and the molecular events that occur during the cell division cycle. Some crucial machinery, such as cyclin-dependent kinases, has been identified, but they are only part of the story of cell cycle regulation. How are their activities coordinated? Recent studies of the cell cycle continue to reveal molecular surprises about how the cell division cycle truly functions and is regulated. This session brings together some of the leaders in this area. Cell cycle control in normal and diseased cells provides a rich new source for potential targets of anti-cancer chemotherapy. |
| Session Chair: Yixian Zheng |
| Piet de Boer (Case Western)
"Oscillating proteins that direct the division apparatus to the middle of E.coli cells" |
| Rich Losick (Harvard)
"Chromosome anchoring and asymmetric division" |
| Mike Tyers (U Toronto)
"Switch-like events in the decision to divide" |
| Julie Ahringer (U Cambridge)
Short Talk: "Ga subunits and asymmetrically distributed
homologues of AGS3/PINS control spindle position in the
early C. elegans embryo" |
| Yixian Zheng (Carnegie Inst.)
"Regulation of the microtubule cytoskeleton during cell division" |
| 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm | Free Time |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Poster Session I - Review |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | CELL AND ORGANELLE DYNAMICS |
| Duplicating a cell requires more than simply duplicating the genetic material or all of a cell's proteins: the proteins must be localized to specific compartments and must assemble into supramolecular structures. This session highlights newly uncovered molecular mechanisms that govern these fundamental processes of cell and organelle reproduction and organization at homeostasis. The speakers have been selected to cover a number of different problems in the maintenance and biogenesis of organelles and protein structures. |
| Session Chair: Tobias Meyer |
| Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz (NIH)
"Maintenance and inheritance of the Golgi apparatus" |
| Vivek Malhotra (UC San Diego)
"Lipid and protein kinases regulating protein transport from the Golgi" |
| Jodi Nunnari (UC Davis)
"Regulating the behavior of mitochondria" |
| Tobias Meyer (Stanford)
"Cells in motion" |
| WEDNESDAY |
| 7:30 am - 8:30 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 am - 12:30 pm | REGULATION OF PROTEIN FUNCTION |
| Eukaryotic cells have a highly conserved enzymatic system for the covalent ligation of ubiquitin to intracellular proteins. For many rapidly degraded proteins including transcription factors, proto-oncogene products, tumor suppressors, and cell cycle regulators, this modification targets the proteins for degradation by the proteasome. Recently, a family of ubiquitin-like modifiers has been discovered, revealing exciting roles for novel mechanisms of protein regulation. The etiology and pathology of many diseases, e.g. neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and both sporadic and hereditable forms of cancer, are associated with abnormalities in the ubiquitin-proteasome system. For this session we have selected a panel of outstanding scientists who have recently made major contributions to the field, and the topics covered will highlight the surprising range of biological processes that are regulated by ubiquitin or ubiquitin-like protein modification. |
| Session Chair: Linda Hicke |
| Ray Deshaies (Cal Tech)
"Role of the ubiquitin system in cellular regulation" |
| Mark Hochstrasser (Yale)
"Common steps in ER membrane protein and nuclear protein degradation by the ubiquitin pathway" |
| Frauke Melchior (MPI Martinsried)
"Posttranslational modification with SUMO-1" |
| Linda Hicke (Northwestern)
"Roles of ubiquitin in regulating endocytosis" |
| 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm | Free Time |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Poster Session II - Main Viewing |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:15 pm | Business Meeting |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | INTRACELLULAR COMMUNICATION |
| Intracellular signal transduction pathways have recently been discovered that mediate communication between the lumen of cytosolic organelles and the nucleus. This suggests there are novel and unexpected mechanisms by which gene expression and protein function can be regulated. The speakers in this session have each made insights into these communication mechanisms, and the talks will include connections between the nucleus and the mitochondria or endoplasmic reticulum. |
| Session Chair: Peter Walter |
| Natalie Ahn (U Colorado)
"Functional proteomic analysis of signaling pathways"
|
| Ron Butow (UT Southwestern)
"Mechanisms of mitochondria-to-nucleus
retrograde signaling" |
| David Ron (New York University)
"Adapting to the metabolic consequences of protein secretion" |
| Peter Walter (UC San Francisco)
"Control of the Unfolded Protein Response" |
| THURSDAY |
| 7:30 am - 8:30 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 am - 12:30 pm | LIPID SIGNALING AND TRAFFICKING |
| Eukaryotic cells maintain an elaborate system of vesicular transport pathways that convey cargo both between intracellular organelles and to the cell surface. A number of different regulatory mechanisms are in place to preserve the structural and functional identity of each compartment and coordinate this trafficking with other cellular processes including cell growth, differentiation, signaling, and cytoskeletal rearrangements. Leaders in this field have been invited to share their recent findings. |
| Session Chair: Lois Weisman |
| Lewis Cantley (Harvard)
"Signaling via phosphoinositide 3-kinase" |
| Pietro DeCamilli (Yale)
"Phosphoinositide metabolism in the regulation of membrane traffic at the synapse" |
| James Hurley (NIH)
"Protein:protein complexes in targeting and trafficking" |
| Anjon Audhya (UCSD)
Short Talk: "Regulation of PI4,5P2 Synthesis by Nuclear-
cytoplasmic Shuttling of the Mss4 Lipid Kinase"
|
| Lois Weisman (U Iowa)
"Osmotic-stress induced regulation of the signaling lipid, PtdIns(3,5)P2" |
| 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm | Free Time |
| 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Poster Session II - Review |
| 6:00 pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | EXPLOITING GENOMIC INFORMATION |
| In this session the speakers will discuss the tremendous power of genome-wide approaches and the application of microchip and proteomic technology. The availability of vast databases of genomic sequence information that contain the complete blueprints for construction of living cells affects every facet of modern cell biology. This new frontier will impact every aspect of cell biologic study. |
| Session Chair: Erin O'Shea |
| Jonathan Weissman (UC San Francisco)
"An epigenetic switch: prion-based protein regulation"
|
| Mike Snyder (Yale)
"Global Analysis of Genomes and Proteomes" |
| Rick Young (MIT)
"Transcriptional Regulatory Networks in Living Cells" |
| Erin O'Shea (UC San Francisco)
"Yeast Functional Genomics" |
| FRIDAY |
| 7:30 am - 8:30 am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 am | Depart |
