The Cellular, Molecular and Physical Biology of Chromosomes

May 21 - 26, 2017

Chair Rebecca Heald

Vice Chair John F. Marko

Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco

Via Giovanni Pascoli

Lucca (Barga), IT

Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

Chromosomes provide the blueprint for all life. Because of its fundamental importance, chromosome biology is currently investigated by a large and diverse set of researchers using many different organisms, model systems, and approaches. The primary goal of this Gordon Research Conference on "Chromosome Dynamics" is to bring together a cross section of these researchers who represent the breadth and highest scientific standards within the field. Many discoveries have occurred and new technologies have developed in recent years at a very rapid pace. This conference allows researchers in diverse areas to learn about the current approaches and the latest experiments, and to develop interdisciplinary interactions and collaborations.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "Chromosome Dynamics (GRS)" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

Sunday
4:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff / Welcome from the GRC Chair
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm	Keynote Session: Diverse Views of Chromosome Biology Discussion Leader: Rebecca Heald (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
7:40 pm - 7:45 pm	Opening Remarks
7:45 pm - 8:10 pm	Tatsuya Hirano (RIKEN, Japan) "Condensin-Based Chromosome Organization"
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm	Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:45 pm	Daniela Barilla (University of York, United Kingdom) "Chromosome Segregation in Archaea: A Thermophilic Menage a Trois"
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm	Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:20 pm	Xiaowei Zhuang (Harvard University / Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA) "Imaging the Three-Dimensional Genome Organization in Single Cells"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Chromosome Organization Discussion Leader: David Sherratt (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
9:00 am - 9:20 am	Isabelle Vallet-Gely (Institut de Biologie Integrative de la Cellule, CNRS, France) "Interplay Between Chromosome Segregation, Replication and Cell Division in Pseudomonas aeruginosa"
9:20 am - 9:30 am	Discussion
9:30 am - 9:50 am	Michael Laub (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) "Regulation of Transcription and Replication by Nucleoid-Associated Proteins"
9:50 am - 10:00 am	Discussion
10:00 am - 10:20 am	Nancy Kleckner (Harvard University, USA) "Global Chromosome Dynamics from Bacteria to Mammalian Cells"
10:20 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 10:40 am	Hironori Niki (National Institute of Genetics, Japan) "Actively Transcribed rRNA Genes Contribute to Nucleoid Resolution in Bacillus subtilis Due to Binding of the Smc-ScpAB Condensin Complex"
10:40 am - 10:45 am	Discussion
10:45 am - 11:15 am	Coffee Break
11:15 am - 11:35 am	Wendy Bickmore (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom) "Chromosome Unfolding and Gene Regulation by Distant Enhancers"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:05 pm	Kiyoshi Mizuuchi (National Institutes of Health, USA) "Intracellular Long-Range Communication and Chromosomal Positioning Mechanisms in Cell Division"
12:05 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm	Andres Cardozo Gizzi (Centre de Biochimie Structurale, CNRS, France) "Cell-Specific Long-Range Low-Frequency Interactions Regulate the Higher-Order Architecture of the Drosophila Genome"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm	Free Time
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm	Power Hour The GRC Power Hour is an optional informal gathering open to all meeting participants. It is designed to help address the challenges women face in science and support the professional growth of women in our communities by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring. Organizer: Abby Dernburg (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Centromeres, Telomeres and Chromosome Stability Discussion Leader: Susan Lovett (Brandeis University, USA)
6:00 pm - 6:20 pm	Julie Cooper (National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA) "Noncanonical Roles of Telomeres and Centromeres in Controlling the Cell Cycle"
6:20 pm - 6:30 pm	Discussion
6:30 pm - 6:40 pm	Jorine Eeftens (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands) "Single-Molecule Experiments to Resolve Structural and Mechanical Properties of Condensin"
6:40 pm - 6:45 pm	Discussion
6:45 pm - 7:05 pm	Michael Lampson (University of Pennsylvania, USA) "Preventing Chromosome Instability: Molecular Mechanisms of Mitotic Error correction"
7:05 pm - 7:15 pm	Discussion
7:15 pm - 7:25 pm	Simona Giunta (The Rockefeller University, USA) "Mechanisms to Maintain Centromere Stability in Human Cells"
7:25 pm - 7:30 pm	Discussion
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Eros Lazzerini Denchi (The Scripps Research Institute, USA) "TZAP: A Novel Telomere-Associated Protein Involved in Telomere Length Control"
7:40 pm - 7:45 pm	Discussion
7:45 pm - 7:55 pm	Barbara Funnell (University of Toronto, Canada) "The Dynamics of ParA-DNA and ParA-ParB Interactions During P1 Plasmid Partition"
7:55 pm - 8:00 pm	Discussion
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Dinner
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Chromosome Biophysics Discussion Leader: Kerry Bloom (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)
9:00 am - 9:20 am	Sophie Dumont (University of California, San Francisco, USA) "Mechanical Architecture and Function of the Mammalian Spindle"
9:20 am - 9:30 am	Discussion
9:30 am - 9:50 am	Johan Elf (Uppsala University, Sweden) "Coordination of Replication and Division Cycles"
9:50 am - 10:00 am	Discussion
10:00 am - 10:20 am	Geeta Narlikar (University of California, San Francisco, USA) "Phase-Separation Behavior of Heterochromatin Suggests New Avenues for Cancer Therapeutics"
10:20 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 10:40 am	Edward Banigan (Northwestern University, USA) "Chromatin Is a Major Determinant of Nuclear Mechanics and Morphology"
10:40 am - 10:45 am	Discussion
10:45 am - 11:15 am	Coffee Break
11:15 am - 11:35 am	Paul Wiggins (University of Washington, USA) "Modeling Replication Conflicts and Segregation Dynamics"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:05 pm	Xiaoliang Sunney Xie (Peking University, China / Harvard University, USA) "Chromosome Dynamics Probed by Single-Molecule Enzymology and Single-Cell Genomics"
12:05 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm	Stephan Gruber (University of Lausanne, Switzerland) "Structure of Full-Length Smc and Rearrangements Required for Chromosome Organization"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm	Free Time
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Genome Structure and Dynamics Discussion Leader: Jorge Schvartzman (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain)
6:00 pm - 6:20 pm	Houra Merrikh (University of Washington, USA) "Replication-Transcription Conflicts"
6:20 pm - 6:30 pm	Discussion
6:30 pm - 6:50 pm	Jade Wang (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA) "The Nature of Mutations Induced by Replication-Transcription Conflict"
6:50 pm - 7:00 pm	Discussion
7:00 pm - 7:20 pm	Barbara Meyer (Howard Hughes Medical Institute / University of California, Berkeley, USA) "Role of Chromosome Structure in the Regulation of X-Chromosome-Wide Gene Expression"
7:20 pm - 7:30 pm	Discussion
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Jennifer Gerton (Stowers Institute for Medical Research, USA) "Replication Stress Restricts Ribosomal DNA Copy Number"
7:40 pm - 7:45 pm	Discussion
7:45 pm - 7:55 pm	Cees Dekker (Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, The Netherlands) "Direct Imaging of the Circular Chromosome in E. coli"
7:55 pm - 8:00 pm	Discussion
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Dinner
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Chromosome Dynamics and Cancer Discussion Leader: John Marko (Northwestern University, USA)
9:00 am - 9:20 am	Job Dekker (University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA) "Folding and Segregating Chromosomes: Implications for Genome Stability and Epigenetic Inheritance"
9:20 am - 9:30 am	Discussion
9:30 am - 9:50 am	Gary Karpen (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA) "Is Heterochromatin Just a Phase?"
9:50 am - 10:00 am	Discussion
10:00 am - 10:20 am	Daniel Gerlich (Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Austria) "Regulation of the Mitotic Chromosome Surface During Nuclear Assembly"
10:20 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 10:40 am	Needhi Bhalla (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA) "Sizing Up the Spindle Checkpoint"
10:40 am - 10:45 am	Discussion
10:45 am - 11:15 am	Coffee Break
11:15 am - 11:35 am	Sadie Wignall (Northwestern University, USA) "Non-Canonical Mechanisms that Detect and Respond to Errors During Cell Division"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:05 pm	Aaron Straight (Stanford University School of Medicine, USA) "RNA Dependent Control of Chromatin Silencing"
12:05 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm	Raquel Oliveira (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal) "Condensin I Directs Sister Chromatid Resolution Throughout Metaphase"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm	Free Time
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Meiosis Discussion Leader: Hironori Funabiki (Rockefeller University, USA)
6:00 pm - 6:20 pm	Elcin Unal (University of California, Berkeley, USA) "Kinetochore Remodeling During Meiosis Through the Regulation of Hec1"
6:20 pm - 6:30 pm	Discussion
6:30 pm - 6:50 pm	Scott Keeney (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA) "Spo11, a 'Broken' Topoisomerase"
6:50 pm - 7:00 pm	Discussion
7:00 pm - 7:20 pm	Tomoya Kitajima (RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Japan) "The Causes of Chromosome Segregation Errors in Mammalian Oocytes"
7:20 pm - 7:30 pm	Discussion
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Jennifer Fung (University of California, San Francisco, USA) "The Role of Telomerase Dependent Attachments in Ensuring Meiotic Chromosome Motion"
7:40 pm - 7:45 pm	Discussion
7:45 pm - 7:55 pm	Yasushi Hiraoka (Osaka University, Japan) "RNA-Associating Proteins Accumulated on the Chromosome During Homologous Chromosome Pairing in Meiosis"
7:55 pm - 8:00 pm	Discussion
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Dinner
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Business Meeting Nominations for the Next Vice Chair; Fill in Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Site and Scheduling Preferences; Election of the Next Vice Chair
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Chromosome Cohesion and Condensation Discussion Leader: Christian Haering (European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany)
9:00 am - 9:20 am	Kikue Tachibana-Konwalski (Institut für Molekulare Biotechnologie (IMBA), Austria) "Single-Nucleus Hi-C Reveals Unique Chromatin Reorganization During the Oocyte-to-Zygote Transition"
9:20 am - 9:30 am	Discussion
9:30 am - 9:40 am	Hongtao Yu (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center / Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA) "Structural and Mechanistic Insight into Cohesin Loading and Release"
9:40 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 9:55 am	Gordana Wutz (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Austria) "Wapl, Pds5A and Pds5B Control Chromatin Compartments, TADs and Loops by Regulating Cohesin-DNA Interactions"
9:55 am - 10:00 am	Discussion
10:00 am - 10:10 am	Damien D'Amours (Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, University of Montreal, Canada) "Fast Switches for a Slow Enzyme: Rescuing the Chromosome Condensation Machinery from the Chromatin Trap"
10:10 am - 10:15 am	Discussion
10:15 am - 10:25 am	Clemence Hocquet (LBMC, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France) "Role of Condensin in the Regulation of Gene Expression in Fission Yeast"
10:25 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:20 am	Camilla Sjogren (Karolinska Institute, Sweden) "The Smc5/6 Complex - Connecting DNA Supercoiling with Chromosome Segregation"
11:20 am - 11:30 am	Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am	Kim Nasmyth (University of Oxford, United Kingdom) "The Roles of HAWK Subunits in Loading, Maintaining, and Releasing Cohesin from Chromosomes"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm	Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm	Markus Hassler (European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Germany) "Structural Basis for Anchoring Eukaryotic Condensin to Chromosomes"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm	Norman Higgins (University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA) "New Integral Components of the E. coli and Salmonella SMC Complex"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm	Free Time
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Chromosome Replication and Repair Discussion Leader: Frederic Boccard (Institut de Biologie Integrative de la Cellule, CNRS, France)
6:00 pm - 6:20 pm	Stephen D. Bell (Indiana University, USA) "Archeal DNA Replication"
6:20 pm - 6:30 pm	Discussion
6:30 pm - 6:40 pm	Revathy Ramachandran (National Institutes of Health, USA) "A Mechanism of Replication Licensing in Bacteria: A Locus on Chr1 Licenses the Replication of Chr2 in Vibrio cholerae"
6:40 pm - 6:45 pm	Discussion
6:45 pm - 6:55 pm	Jorge Schvartzman (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain) "The Abundance of Fob1p Modulates the Efficiency of rRFBs to Stall Replication Forks"
6:55 pm - 7:00 pm	Discussion
7:00 pm - 7:20 pm	Stephen P. Bell (Howard Hughes Medical Institute / Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) "Regulation and Mechanism of Eukaryotic DNA Replication Initiation"
7:20 pm - 7:30 pm	Discussion
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm	Abby Dernburg (University of California, Berkeley, USA) "A Compartmentalized Circuit Mediates Meiotic Crossover Control"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm	Discussion
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Dinner
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am	Departure