Conference Program
 
Epigenetics
The Role Of The Environment And Epigenetic Mechanisms In Behavior, Health, And Disease
August 9-14, 2009
Holderness School
Holderness, NH
Chairs:
Jeannie T. Lee & Ueli Grossniklaus

Vice Chairs:
Marisa S. Bartolomei & Craig S. Pikaard

Epigenetics refers to the study of heritable changes in genome function that occur without a change in primary DNA sequence. The 2009 Gordon Conference in Epigenetics will feature discussion of various epigenetic phenomena, emerging understanding of their underlying mechanisms, and the growing appreciation that human, animal, and plant health all depend on proper epigenetic control. Special emphasis will be placed on genome-environment interactions particularly as they relate to human disease. Towards improving knowledge of molecular mechanisms, the conference will feature international leaders studying the roles of higher order chromatin structure, noncoding RNA, repeat elements, nuclear organization, and morphogenic evolution. Traditional and new model organisms are selected from plants, fungi, and metazoans.

Contributors
SUNDAY
2:00 pm - 9:00 pmArrival and Check-in (Office Closed 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm)
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 7:35 pmWelcome / Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff
7:35 pm - 7:40 pmWelcome Note by the Organizers
7:40 pm - 9:30 pmCLASSIC EPIGENETIC PHENOMENA
Discussion Leader: Eric Richards (Cornell University)
7:40 pm - 7:55 pm Vicky Chandler (University of Arizona)
"Epigenetic Silencing across Generations"
7:55 pm - 8:00 pm Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:15 pm Paul Soloway (Cornell University)
"Successful Computational Prediction of Novel Imprinted Genes from Epigenomic Features"
8:15 pm - 8:20 pm Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:35 pm Ting Wu (Harvard Medical School)
"Implications of homology"
8:35 pm - 8:40 pm Discussion
8:40 pm - 8:55 pm Steve Henikoff (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)
"Epigenetic Inheritance of Centromeric Chromatin"
8:55 pm - 9:00 pm Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm Short Talk: Doug Chalker (Washington University, St. Louis)
"Dynamic nuclear reorganization and extensive genome rearrangements remodel the differentiating somatic nucleus of Tetrahymena"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:30 pm Eric Richards: Synthesis & Discussion - What is epigenetics?
MONDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
8:45 amGroup Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pmGERMLINE & TRANSGENERATIONAL INHERITANCE
Discussion Leader: William Kelley (Emory University, GA)
9:00 am - 9:15 am Brad Cairns (University of Utah)
"Chromatin Packaging in Mature Germ Cells"
9:15 am - 9:20 am Discussion
9:20 am - 9:35 am Marcus Pembrey (University of Bristol, UK)
"Male-line Transgenerational Responses in Humans"
9:35 am - 9:40 am Discussion
9:40 am - 9:55 am Hiroyuki Sasaki (National Institute of Genetics, Shizuoka, Japan)
"Genomic Imprinting, DNA Methylation and Small RNAs in Mammalian Germ Cells"
9:55 am - 10:00 am Discussion
10:00 am - 10:10 am Short Talk: Yoav Soen (Weizmann Institute, Israel)
"Trans-generational Inheritance of Plastic Responses to a Novel Challenge Presented to Developing Flies"
10:10 am - 10:15 am Discussion
10:15 am - 10:45 am Coffee Break
10:45 am - 11:00 am Pat Shiu (University of Missouri)
"Meiotic Silencing by Unpaired DNA"
11:00 am - 11:05 am Discussion
11:05 am - 11:20 am James Turner (National Institute for Medical Research, UK)
"Meiotic Silencing in Mammals"
11:20 am - 11:25 am Discussion
11:25 am - 11:35 am Short Talk: Frederic Chedin (UC-Davis)
"Formation of long, stable R-loops is a novel characteristic of the human SNRPN and mouse Air imprinting centers"
11:35 am - 11:40 am Discussion
11:40 am - 11:50 am Short Talk: Jonathan Schneiderman (Harvard Medical School)
"Transcriptional and germline functions for the H3.3 histone variant"
11:50 am - 11:55 am Discussion
11:55 am - 12:05 pm Short Talk: Felipe Texeira (CNRS, France)
"Widespread gene misregulation due to loss of DNA methylation over repeat elements in Arabidopsis"
12:05 pm - 12:10 pm Discussion
12:10 pm - 12:20 pm William Kelley: Synthesis & Discussion - How much and how far can the germline transmit?
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmEPIGENETIC REPROGRAMMING DURING DEVELOPMENT
Discussion Leader: Robert Feil (CNRS, France)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm Rudolf Jaenisch (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research)
"The Epigenetic (In)stability of the Pluripotent and Differentiated Cell State"
7:45 pm - 7:50 pm Discussion
7:50 pm - 8:05 pm Wolf Reik (The Babraham Institute, UK)
"Regulation of Epigenetic Reprogramming in Mammalian Development"
8:05 pm - 8:10 pm Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:25 pm Daniel Grimanelli (Institut de Recherche et Dévelopment, France)
"Chromatin-Level Control of Reproductive Strategies in Plants"
8:25 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:45 pm Anne Ferguson-Smith (University of Cambridge, UK)
"Imprinted Genes and Mammalian Development"
8:45 pm - 8:50 pm Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:00 am Short Talk: Frederic Berger (National University of Singapore)
"Epigenetic Reprogramming of Histone Marks during Sexual Reproduction in Arabidopsis"
9:00 pm - 9:05 pm Discussion
9:05 pm - 9:25 pm Robert Feil: Synthesis & Discussion - Challenges during reprogramming
TUESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmBALANCING THE EPIGENOME
Discussion Leader: Marisa Bartolomei (University of Pennsylvania)
9:00 am - 9:15 am Jenny Graves (Australian National University, Australia)
"The Chromosomal Balancing Act in Marsupials and Monotremes"
9:15 am - 9:20 am Discussion
9:20 am - 9:35 am Peter Becker (Munich University, Germany)
"Regulation of the Male X in Drosophila by the MSL complex"
9:35 am - 9:40 am Discussion
9:40 am - 9:55 am Jim Birchler (University of Missouri)
Genomic Balance and the Male Specific Lethal (MSL) Complex in Drosophila"
9:55 am - 10:00 am Discussion
10:00 am - 10:10 am Short Talk: Christine Disteche (University of Washington, Seattle)
"Complex Genome-Wide Balancing Acts in Eutherian Mammals"
10:10 am - 10:15 am Discussion
10:15 am - 10:45 am Coffee Break
10:45 am - 11:00 am Barbara Meyer (University of California-Berkeley)
"Dosage Compensation in Round Worms and its Connection to Meiosis"
11:00 am - 11:05 am Discussion
11:05 am - 11:20 am Jeffrey Chen (University of Texas)
"An Epigenetic Balance around the Clock: a Molecular Basis for Growth Vigor in Hybrids and Allopolyploids"
11:20 am - 11:25 am Discussion
11:25 am - 11:40 am Peter Fraser (The Babraham Institute, UK)
"The transcriptional interactome; overlapping networks of gene co-associations at transcription factories"
11:40 am - 11:45 am Discussion
11:45 am - 11:55 am Short Talk: Laura Carrel (Penn State University)
"A conserved hypomethylated multi-gene domain on the inactive X chromosome"
11:55 am - 12:00 pm Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:20 pm Marisa Bartolomei: Synthesis & Discussion - Are there multiple methods of balancing the genome? Inverse effect versus dosage compensation
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmEPIGENETICS IN HEALTH & DISEASE
Discussion Leader: Howard Cedar (Hebrew University, Israel)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm Amar Klar (National Cancer Institute at Frederick)
"Cellular Differentiation through Epigenetics and Selective Chromatid Segregation"
7:45 pm - 7:50 pm Discussion
7:50 pm - 8:05 pm Steve Baylin (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
"Epigenetic Misregulation in Cancer"
8:05 pm - 8:10 pm Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:25 pm Renato Paro (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
"Epigenetic Control of Regeneration"
8:25 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:45 pm Rosanna Weksberg (SickKids, Canada)
"Epigenetics and Human Disease"
8:45 pm - 8:50 pm Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:05 pm Jasper Rine (University of California-Berkeley)
"Effect of folate on gene activity in humans and yeast"
9:05 pm - 9:10 pm Discussion
9:10 pm - 9:30 pm Howard Cedar: Synthesis & Discussion - How much of disease is epigenetic versus genetic?
WEDNESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmENVIRONMENTAL EPIGENETICS AND BEHAVIOR
Discussion Leader: Doug Ruden (Wayne State University)
9:00 am - 9:15 am Patricia Hunt (Washington State University)
"Epigenetic change effected by environmental toxins"
9:15 am - 9:20 am Discussion
9:20 am - 9:35 am Emma Whitelaw (Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Australia)
"The Molecular basis of Intangible Variation"
9:35 am - 9:40 am Discussion
9:40 am - 9:55 am Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid (Gregor Mendel Institute, Austria)
"Heat stress causes transient suppression of transcriptional gene silencing"
9:55 am - 10:00 am Discussion
10:00 am - 10:10 am Short Talk: Bas Rutjens (John Innes Centre, UK)
"Cold-induced epigenetic silencing mediated by long non-coding FLC transcripts"
10:10 am - 10:15 am Discussion
10:15 am - 10:45 am Coffee Break
10:45 am - 11:00 am Moshe Szyf (McGill University, Canada)
"The impact of the early social environment on the adult epigenome"
11:00 am - 11:05 am Discussion
11:05 am - 11:20 am Catherine Dulac (Harvard University)
"Spatial, Temporal, Sex- and Species-Specific Genomic Imprinting in the Mouse Brain"
11:20 am - 11:25 am Discussion
11:25 am - 11:40 am Susan Lindquist (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT)
"Prion proteins provide a survival strategy for generating heritable phenotypic diversity"
11:40 am - 11:45 am Discussion
11:45 am - 12:00 pm Reed Wickner (National Institutes of Health)
"The structural basis of protein-based inheritance"
12:00 pm - 12:05 pm Discussion
12:05 pm - 12:25 pm Doug Ruden: Synthesis & Discussion - Lamarckian genetics via environmental influences and prions?
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:00 pm - 7:30 pmBusiness Meeting
(Nominations for the next Vice Chair; Fill out Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss future Site & Scheduling preferences; Election of the next Vice Chair)
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmCHROMATIN MODIFIERS & DNA METHYLATION
Discussion Leader: Jean Finnegan (CSIRO, Australia)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm Judith Bender (Brown University)
"The role of small RNAs in maintaining DNA methylation on duplicated sequences"
7:45 pm - 7:50 pm Discussion
7:50 pm - 8:05 pm Eric Selker (University of Oregon)
"Control of DNA Methylation in Neurospora"
8:05 pm - 8:10 pm Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:25 pm Steve Jacobsen (University of California-Los Angeles)
"Regulation of DNA Methylation and Histone Modifications in Arabidposis"
8:25 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:45 pm Marjori Matzke (Gregor Mendel Institute, Austria)
"RNA-directed DNA Methylation in Arabidopsis"
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:10 pm Andreas Houben (Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Research, Germany)
"Phosphorylation of Histone H3 in Plants - a Dynamic Affair"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:30 pm Jean Finnegan: Synthesis & Discussion - The connection between DNA & histone methylation in affecting genome behavior
THURSDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmCONTROL BY TRANSPOSONS & ncRNA
Discussion Leader: Sarah Elgin (Washington University)
9:00 am - 9:15 am Tetsuji Kakutani (National Institute of Genetics, Shizuoka, Japan)
"Genetics of DNA Methylation in Genes and Transposons in Arabidopsis"
9:15 am - 9:20 am Discussion
9:20 am - 9:35 am Jim Goodrich (University of Colorado)
"Regulation of Mammalian mRNA transcription by SINE RNAs"
9:35 am - 9:40 am Discussion
9:40 am - 9:50 am Short Talk: Alysson Muotri (University of California-San Diego)
"L1 retrotransposition in the Nervous System"
9:50 am - 9:55 am Discussion
9:55 am - 10:10 am Denise Barlow (University of Vienna, Austria)
"Long ncRNA and Imprinting in Mammals"
10:10 am - 10:15 am Discussion
10:15 am - 10:45 am Coffee Break
10:45 am - 11:00 am Shiv Grewal (National Institutes of Health)
"RNAi-mediated Epigenetic Control of the Genome"
11:00 am - 11:05 am Discussion
11:05 am - 11:20 am Danesh Moazed (Harvard Medical School)
"Noncoding RNAs and Inheritance of Heterochromatin"
11:20 am - 11:25 am Discussion
11:25 am - 11:40 am Rob Martienssen (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories)
"Copying and Reprogramming Heterochromatin with RNA interference"
11:40 am - 11:45 am Discussion
11:45 am - 12:00 pm Tim Bestor (Columbia University)
"Regulation and Mechanism of de novo DNA methylation"
12:00 pm - 12:05 pm Discussion
12:05 pm - 12:25 pm Sally Elgin: Synthesis & Discussion - Is junk DNA no longer junk?
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmNUCLEAR ORGANIZATION
Discussion Leader: Thomas Cremer (Munich University, Germany)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm Vince Pirrotta (Rutgers University, NJ)
"The role of Polycomb proteins in genome organization"
7:45 pm - 7:50 pm Discussion
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm Short Talk: Pam Geyer (University of Iowa)
"Stem cell homeostasis in the Drosophila female gonad requires integrity of the nuclear lamina"
8:00 pm - 8:05 pm Discussion
8:05 pm - 8:20 pm Alexandre Reymond (University of Lausanne, Switzerland)
"Genome structure and gene expression"
8:20 pm - 8:25 pm Discussion
8:25 pm - 8:40 pm Wendy Bickmore (The Babraham Institute, UK)
"The repression of gene expression in the nuclear space"
8:40 pm - 8:45 pm Discussion
8:45 pm - 9:00 pm Craig Pikaard (Washington University)
"Functions of nuclear RNA Polymerases IV and V in plant siRNA-directed gene silencing"
9:00 pm - 9:05 pm Discussion
9:05 pm - 9:25 pm Thomas Cremer: Synthesis & Discussion - Nuclear organization as an epigenetic mechanism
9:30 pmParty
FRIDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 amDepart
Funding for this conference was made possible (in part) by 1 R13 CA141864-01 from the National Cancer Institute. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention by trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.