Conference Description
The viability of all organisms is critically dependent on a healthy proteome. Proteins drive most, if not all, biological processes including those mediating cell structure, function, and regulation. As physiological conditions fluctuate, the complexity of a proteome is adapted to maintain homeostasis. This balance is challenged by various internal and external events including normal developmental programs as well as environmental or disease conditions. For instance, the emergence of a new tissue type can involve a dynamic rewiring of the protein landscape that is accompanied by increased loads on the protein folding systems in the cytosol and organelles (e.g., endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria) as well as on the degradation machinery used to clear the obsolete polypeptides. Further contesting the health of a proteome are chronic and acute stresses such as shifts in temperature, free radical, or hydration levels. Fortunately, cells increase the production of protective factors such a molecular chaperones and proteases to counter these insults. A multi-faceted signaling network ensures that proteomic balance is preserved in each cell compartment under all physiological states by utilizing myriad of signaling components as well as gene and translation programs. In conjunction with the molecular chaperones and proteases, these systems constitute the protein homeostasis or proteostasis process. Notably, an organism’s ability to achieve proteostasis dissipates with age correlating with a higher occurrence of aliments including cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic (e.g., type II diabetes), and neurodegenerative diseases.
The 2021 Gordon Research Conference on Stress Proteins in Growth, Development, and Disease is the eleventh in this successful series and will highlight the most recent advances in the field of protein homeostasis ranging from fundamental mechanisms regulating stress programs and protein quality control to therapeutic strategies countering proteinopathies. Special emphasis will be placed on novel aspects controlling stress-related transcription and translation programs, protein aggregation and phase separation events, polypeptide clearance strategies, and the influence of cytosolic/organelle stress responses to pathology. The collegial and scholarly atmosphere of this conference series encourages vigorous and open discussions of exciting emerging research related to various areas of stress and proteostasis biology. The meeting also provides excellent opportunities for graduate student, postdoctoral fellows, and junior group leaders to present their work either in posters or short talks. We will continue our successful use of “poster preview” talks and a Power Hour focused on women investigators in the field. The formal scientific program, limited attendance, and organized but informal interaction-opportunities help shape this meeting into a preeminent conference promoting a deeper understanding of the versatile roles of stress proteins and proteostasis in human health, aging, and disease.
The topics, speakers, and discussion leaders for the conference sessions are displayed below. The conference chair is currently developing their detailed program, which will include the complete meeting schedule, as well as the talk titles for all speakers. The detailed program will be available by July 7, 2021. Please check back for updates.
Keynote Session: Proteostasis: Molecular Chaperone Machines and Aging Decline
Discussion Leaders
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Harm Kampinga (University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands)
Speakers
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Johannes Buchner (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
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Ana Maria Cuervo (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA)
Signaling Systems Overseeing the Protein Homeostasis Network
Discussion Leaders
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Monica Driscoll (Rutgers University, USA)
Speakers
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Chengkai Dai (National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA)
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Heinrich Jasper (Genentech, USA)
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Patricija van Oosten-Hawle (University of Leeds, United Kingdom)
Gene Regulatory Responses to Stress and Aging
Discussion Leaders
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Richard Morimoto (Northwestern University, USA)
Speakers
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John Lis (Cornell University, USA)
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Lea Sistonen (Åbo Akademi University, Finland)
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Dennis Thiele (Duke University School of Medicine, USA)
Translation Events Maintaining Protein Homeostasis
Discussion Leaders
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Judith Frydman (Stanford University, USA)
Speakers
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Elke Deuerling (University of Konstanz, Germany)
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Lee Kraus (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA)
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Jonathan Weissman (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT, USA)
Molecular Chaperone Machines
Discussion Leaders
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F. Ulrich Hartl (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany)
Speakers
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Justin Benesch (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
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Lila Gierasch (University of Massachusetts, USA)
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Didier Picard (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
Stress Responses of the Endoplasmic Reticulum and the Impact of Age
Discussion Leaders
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Jeffrey Brodsky (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
Speakers
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Anne Bertolotti (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom)
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Maho Niwa Rosen (University of California, San Diego, USA)
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Peter Walter (University of California, San Francisco / Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA)
Mitochondrial Function During Aging and Stress
Discussion Leaders
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Andrew Dillin (University of California, Berkeley / Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA)
Speakers
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Marcia Haigis (Harvard Medical School, USA)
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Liza Pon (Columbia University, USA)
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Xinnan Wang (Stanford University School of Medicine, USA)
Protein Aggregation and Phase Transitions During Health, Aging and Disease
Discussion Leaders
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Jeffery Kelly (Scripps Research, USA)
Speakers
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Simon Alberti (Technical University of Dresden, Germany)
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Manajit Hayer-Hartl (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany)
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James Shorter (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
Protein Ubiquitination and Degradation
Discussion Leaders
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Bernd Bukau (Heidelberg University / German Cancer Research Center, Germany)
Speakers
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Malene Hansen (Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, USA)
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Wade Harper (Harvard Medical School, USA)
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Rachel Klevit (University of Washington, USA)
