09.00 – 09.45

EMBO Scientific Session

Keynote lecture 1

Chair:
René Bernards (Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands)

09.00
Novel therapeutic approaches
Jeffrey Engelman (Novartis, Boston, United States)

Montreal

09.45 – 10.15

Coffee break at the exhibition

10.15 – 12.00

EMBO Scientific Session

Plenary session 1: Cancer I

Chair:
René Bernards (Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands)

10.15
Tumour-stroma interactions in breast cancer metastasis
Clare Isacke (The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom)

10.40
Translation control in melanoma
Caroline Robert (Institut Gustave Roussy, Paris, France)

11.05
Cancer evolution as a therapeutic target
Alberto Bardelli (University of Torino, Candiolo, Italy)

11.30
Cell plasticity and lineage commitment in liver tumorigenesis
Lars Zender (Tübingen University, Germany)

Montreal

12.00 – 13.45

Lunch break

13.45 – 15.30

EMBO Scientific Session

Parallel session 1: Plant disease and pathogens

Chair:
Regine Kahmann (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany)

13.45                            
Effectors to go: unexpected insights from a plant pathogenic fungus
Regine Kahmann (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany)

14.10                            
Dynamics of host adaptation in fungal pathogens
Antonio Di Pietro (University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain)

14.35                            
Secretion and delivery of effector proteins from a plant pathogen to its host
Paul Birch (The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, United Kingdom)

15.00                            
Determination of the host range of the fungal plant pathogen Verticillium
Bart Thomma (University of Wageningen, Netherlands)

Montreal

13.45 – 15.30

EMBO Scientific Session

Parallel session 2: Cancer II

Chair:
Charles Swanton (The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom)

13.45
Cancer evolution, adaptation and immune evasion
Charles Swanton (The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom)

14.10                            
Understanding the role of metabolism in cancer
Matthew G. Vander Heiden (Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, United States)

14.35
Circulating tumour cells: a multi-use biomarker
Caroline Dive (The University of Manchester, United Kingdom)

Abstract presentations

15.00
The protein histidine phosphatase LHPP is a tumor suppressor
S.K. Hindupur¹, M. Colombi¹, S.R. Fuhs², M.S. Matter³, Y. Guri¹, K. Adam², M. Cornu¹, S. Piscuoglio³, C.Y. Ng₃, C. Betz¹, D. Liko¹, L. Quagliata³, S. Moes¹, P. Jenoe¹, L.M. Terracciano³, M.H. Heim⁴, T. Hunter², M.N. Hall^1
1University of Basel / Biozentrum, Basel, Switzerland, ²Salk Institute for Biological Studies, California, CA, United States, ³Universitätsspital Basel / Institute of Pathology, ⁴Universitätsspital Basel / Department of Biomedicine, Basel, Switzerland

15.15                            
Modelling mutant IDH2 leukemia evolution identifies vulnerabilities and effective combination therapy
V. Mugoni^1,2, R. Panella1, G. Cheloni¹, M. Chen¹, O. Pozdnyakova³, D. Stroopinsky¹, J. Guarnerio¹, E. Monteleone^1,4, J.D. Lee¹, L. Mendez¹, A. Venugopal Menon¹, J.C. Aster³, A. Lane⁵, R.M. Stone⁵, I. Galinsky⁵, J.C. Zamora⁶, F. Lo-Coco^7,8, M.K. Bhasin⁹, D. Avigan¹, L. Longo¹, J. Clohessy^1,2,10, P.P. Pandolfi^2
1Cancer Research Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, Department of Medicine and Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA., ²Ludwig Center at Harvard, Harvard Medical School, ³Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ⁴Molecular Biotechnology Center and Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy, ⁵Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ⁶Biobanco La Fe - Instituto de Investigation Sanitaria La Fe (IIS-LA FE), Valencia, Spain, ⁷Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata', ⁸Neuro-Oncohematology Unit, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy, ⁹Division of IMBIO, Department of Medicine, BIDMC Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Center, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, ¹⁰Preclinical Murine Pharmacogenetics Core, Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Boston, MA, United States

Singapore

15.30 – 16.30

EMBO Flash Talks & Posters

EMBO Flash talks (session 1)

Cancer

15.30     P110          
Mechanisms of oncogene-induced DNA replication stress
M. Macheret, T.D. Halazonetis
Molecular Biology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

15.34     P111          
DNA-PK regulates the radiosensitivity and oncogenicity of MET-addicted cancer cell lines via a novel MET phosphosite
J. Koch¹, S.M. Roth¹, A. Quintin¹, J. Gavini², E. Orlando¹, M. Medo¹, R. Aebersold^3,4, D.M. Stroka², D.M. Aebersold¹, Y. Zimmer¹, M. Medová1
¹Department for BioMedical Research, Radiation Oncology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and University of Bern, ²Department for BioMedical Research, Visceral Surgery, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern, ³Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, ⁴Faculty of Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

15.38     P112          
The mammalian Target of Rapamycin Complex 2 (mTORC2) promotes tumorigenesis via lipid synthesis
Y. Guri¹, M. Colombi¹, E. Dazert¹, S. Kumar¹, S. Moes², P. Jenoe², J. Roszik³, M. Heim⁴, H. Riezman⁵, I. Riezman⁵, M.N. Hall¹, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
¹Biozentrum | Growth and Development, University of Basel, ²University of Basel / Biozentrum, Basel, Switzerland, ³Melanoma Medical Oncology and Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States, ⁴Hepatology, Universitätsspital Basel, Basel, 5University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

15.42     P113          
Molecular mechanisms mediating responsiveness to targeted cancer therapy
E. Dazert¹, M. Colombi¹, T. Boldanova², C. Etter¹, C.K.Y. Ng³, T. Habluetzel1, S. Wieland², S. Ketterer², T. Bock¹, S. Moes¹, P. Jenoe¹, A. Schmidt¹, L. Terracciano3, M. Heim², M.N. Hall^1
1Biozentrum / University of Basel, ²Department of Biomedicine / University Hospital Basel, ³Molecular Pathology / University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland

15.46     P114          
A highly miniaturized system for anti-cancer compound screening on primary cells and cancer spheroids
A. Popova¹, S. Dietrich², P. Levkin^1
1Institute for Toxicology and Genetics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, ²Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

15.50     P115          
Role of CDK8 in hepatocellular carcinoma
K. Bacevic, S. Prieto, J. Ursic-Bedoya, C. Dohet, A. Camasses, D. Fisher, U. Hibner, D. Gregoire
Institute of Molecular Genetics, Montpellier, France

15.54     P116          
Potassium channels and membrane polarization control membrane translocation of cell-penetrating peptides
E. Trofimenko¹, M. Heulot¹, N. Chevalier¹, S. Michel¹, M. Serulla Llorens¹, G. Vantomme², Y. Arribat¹, G. Dubuis¹, J. Puyal², F. Amati¹, A. Luthi², C. Widmann^1
1Department of Physiology, ²Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Metabolic disorders – diabetes/obesity

15.58     P117          
Insulin resistance causes inflammation in adipose tissue
M. Shimobayashi¹, V. Albert¹, B. Woelnerhanssen2, I.C. Frei¹, D. Weissenberger¹, A.C. Meyer-Gerspach², N. Clement², S. Moes¹, M. Colombi¹, J.A. Meier¹, M.M. Swierczynska1, P. Jenö¹, C. Beglinger², R. Peterli¹, M.N. Hall^1
1University of Basel / Biozentrum, ²St. Claraspital, Basel, Switzerland

16.02     P118          
Lipid metabolism and intestinal organoid development
A. Xavier da Silveira dos Santos¹, F. Maurer¹, S. Iftkhar^1,2, K. Volkmann¹, C. Genoud¹, P. Liberali¹
1Quantitative Biology, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, ²Biozentrum / University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Inflammation

16.06     P119          
T cell costimulation blockade blunts pressure overload-induced heart failure
E. Martini¹, M. Kallikourdis^1,2, P. Carullo^3,4, C. Sardi¹, C.M. Greco³, G. Roselli¹, F. Riva5, A.M. Ormbostad Berre⁶, T.O. Stølen⁶, A. Fumero⁷, G. Faggian⁸, E. Di Pasquale^3,4, L. Elia³, C. Rumio⁹, D. Catalucci^4,10, R. Papait³, G. Condorelli^2,3
1Adaptive Immunity Laboratory, Humanitas Research Hospital, ²Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, ³Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Humanitas Research Hospital, ⁴Institute of Genetic and Biomedical Research (IRGB), National Research Council of Italy, Rozzano, ⁵Department of Veterinary Sciences and Public Health (DIVET), University of Milan, Milano, Italy, ⁶Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, ⁷Cardiac Surgery, Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, ⁸Department of Cardiac Surgery, University of Verona, Verona, ⁹Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche e Biomolecolar, University of Milan, Milano, ¹⁰Laboratory of Signal Transduction in Cardiac Pathologies, Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Italy

Neurodegenerative disease

16.10     P120          
In vitro Labeling of Human Wharton's Jelly-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Dextran-coated Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles by a New Bio-Mimicry Method
M. Mehdizadeh¹, R. Shabani², F. Ghiami^2
1Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Department of Anatomical Sciences, ²Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

16.14     P121          
Comparative in silico analysis of bacterial and human neutral sphingomyelinases
B. Yagci, E. Ozkirimli Olmez, K. Ulgen
Chemical Engineering, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey

MipTec stage

15.30 – 16.30

EMBO Poster Session

EMBO Poster session 1

Poster exhibition

16.30 – 17.30

EMBO Scientific Session

Louis-Jeantet Prize lectures

Chair:
Paul Nurse (The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom)

16.30
Deconstructing and reconstructing the vasculature
Christer Betsholtz (Uppsala University, Sweden)

17.00
Dissecting human antibody responses: useful, basic and surprising findings
Antonio Lanzavecchia (Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona, Switzerland)

Montreal

09.00 – 09.45

EMBO Scientific Session

Keynote lecture 2

Chair:
Karen Avraham (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

09.00
Space and memory in the brain
May-Britt Moser (NTNU, Trondheim, Norway)

Montreal

09.45 – 10.15

Coffee break at the exhibition

10.15 – 12.00

EMBO Scientific Sessions

Plenary session 2: Microbial disease and pathogens

Chair:
Philippe Sansonetti (Insitut Pasteur, Paris, France)

10.15
Gut microbiome and intestinal epithelial regeneration: decrypting signals in the crypt
Philippe Sansonetti (Insitut Pasteur, Paris, France)

10.40
Pathoecology and evolution of the cholera-causing pathogen Vibrio cholerae
Melanie Blokesch (EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland)

11.05
Programmable RNA antibiotics for microbiome editing
Jörg Vogel (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany)

11.30
How Salmonella deals with host immune responses
David Holden (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)

Montreal

12.00 – 13.45

Lunch break

13.45 – 15.30

EMBO Scientific Session

Parallel session 3: Microbiota

Chair:
François Leulier (IGFL, Lyon, France)

13.45
The microbiome and animal linear growth promotion
François Leulier (IGFL, Lyon, France)

14.10
Personalizing treatments using microbiome and clinical data
Eran Segal (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel)

14.35
tba
Ami Bhatt (Stanford University, Palo Alto, United States)

15.00
Innovation in nutrition and health based on microbiome research
Nathalie Delzenne (UCLouvain/Louvain Drug Research Institute, Brussels, Belgium)

Montreal

13.45 – 15.30

EMBO Scientific Session

Parallel session 4: Sensory function and deficit

Chair:
Karen Avraham (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

13.45                            
Epigenomics of the auditory system: Implications for deafness
Karen Avraham (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

14.10
Gut feelings: delineating sensory signaling pathways in the intestine
David Julius (University of California, San Francisco, United States)

14.35
Optogenetics for vision restoration - translation from mice to primates
Deniz Dalkara (Institut de la Vision, Paris, France) 

15.00
Cell type specification during development of proprioception - the body's 'Sixth Sense'
Yoram Groner (The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel)

Singapore

15.30 – 16.00

Coffee break at the exhibition

16.00 – 17.15

EMBO Scientific Session

Plenary session 3: Inflammation

Chair:
Yinon Ben-Neriah (The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel)

16.00
CKI alpha inhibition-mediated p53 activation and parainflammation – implications for cancer therapy
Yinon Ben-Neriah (The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel)

16.25
Inflammation: linking homeostasis and defense
Ruslan Medzhitov (Yale University, New Haven, United States)

16.50
Immune suppression: how to convert conventional T cells into regulatory T cells
Shimon Sakaguchi (Osaka University, Japan)

Montreal

17.30 – 18.30

EMBO Flash Talks & Posters

EMBO Flash talks (session 2)

Microbiota

17.30     P122          
Cancer Cell-Microbiota Interactions in the Human Skin Microbiome of Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma
C. Dehner, W. Ruff, F. Foss, M. Girardi, M. Kriegel
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States

17.34     P123          
Experimental evolution of a fungal pathogen into a gut symbiont
G.H.W. Tso¹, J.A. Reales-Calderon¹, A.S.M. Tan¹, X.H. Sem¹, G.T.T. Le¹, T.G. Tan¹, G.C. Lai¹, K.G. Srinivasan¹, M. Yurieva¹, W. Liao¹, M. Poidinger¹, F. Zolezzi¹, G. Rancati², N. Pavelka^1
1Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), ²Institute of Medical Biology, Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 8A Biomedical Grove, Immunos #05, Singapore, Singapore

Aging/senescence

17.38     P124
Identifying the multidimensional controllers of aging
S. Maudsley¹, J. van Gastel¹, H. Leysen², J. Hendrickx^1
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, VIB - University of Antwerp, ²Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

17.42     P125
mTOR regulates mRNA metabolism via mRNA binding proteins
S. Shetty, M.N. Hall
Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

17.46     P126
Sarcopenia chronicles: dynamics of gene expression during aging of rat skeletal muscles
A. Börsch¹, J. Feige², M. Rüegg1, M. Zavolan^1
1Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, ²Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, Lausanne, Switzerland

Model systems in disease

17.50     P127
Single cell RNA sequencing identifies novel cell types and distinct, transcriptional programs in the developing Drosophila ovary.
M. Slaidina, T. Banisch, R. Lehmann
Skirball Institute, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States

17.54     P128          
The role for coronin 1 in homeostatic CD4+ T cell expansion and survival in peripheral lymphoid organs
M. Mori, J. Ruer-Laventie, J. Pieters
Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Microbial disease/pathogens

17.58     P129          
NCS1 regulates Ca2+-Dependent Focal Exocytosis of Golgi-derived Vesicles to Help Phagocytic uptake in Macrophages
N. Vashi^1,2
1National Insstitute of Immunology, Delhi, ²International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology, New Delhi, India

18.02     P130          
A strategic application of computational tools for the identification enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase inhibitors
M.Y. Lone^1,2, A. Manhas², P.C. Jha^3
1Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, ²School of Chemical Sciences, ³Centre for Applied Chemistry, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, India

18.06     P131          
Conformational Sampling of the Intrinsically Disordered C-Terminal Tail of DERA Is Important for Enzyme Catalysis
M. Schulte^1,2, D. Petrovic², P. Neudecker^1,2, R. Hartmann², J. Pietruszka^3,4, S. Willbold⁵, D. Willbold1,2, V. Panwalkar^1,2
1Institut für Physikalische Biologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, ²Institute of Complex Systems 6, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, ³Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, ⁴Institute of Bio- and Geosciences 1: Biotechnology, ⁵Central Institute of Engineering, Electronics and Analytics, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany

18.10     P132          
Uptake of pVEC Examined by Microfluidic Technology
M. Yuce¹, K. Ulgen¹, B. Sariyar Akbulut², E. Ozkirimli Olmez^1
1Chemical Engineering, Bogazici University, ²Bioengineering, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey

18.14     P133
A Microfluidic Device to Study Chemotaxis by High-Throughput Single-Cell Tracking
F. Wyss, M. Sangermani, U. Jenal
University of Basel / Biozentrum, Basel, Switzerland

Poster exhibition

17.30 – 18.30

EMBO Poster Session

EMBO Poster session 2

Poster exhibition

09.00 – 10.15

EMBO Scientific Session

Plenary session 4: Neurodegenerative Disease

Chair:
John Hardy (University College London, United Kingdom)

09.00
Presenilin metastability in Alzheimer’s disease, implications for drug discovery
Lucía Chávez Gutiérrez (Catholic University Leuven, Leuven, Belgium)

09.25
Microglial dysfunction in neurodegenerative disorders
Christian Haass (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany)

09.50
Gene silencing therapy for human neurodegenerative disease
Don W. Cleveland (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, La Jolla, United States)

Montreal

10.15 – 10.45

Coffee break at the exhibition

10.45 – 12.30

EMBO Scientific Session

Parallel session 5: Aging and senescence

Chair:
Judith Campisi (Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, United States)

10.45
Cellular senescence, aging and longevity
Judith Campisi (Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, United States)

11.10
Senescence in cancer therapy – not too bad, if not for good
Clemens A. Schmitt (Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany)  

11.35
An integrated view of cellular senescence and in vivo reprogramming
Manuel Serrano (Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona, Spain)

Abstract presentations

12.00
Longitudinal analysis of gene expression reveals widespread pleiotropic antagonism during aging of the short-lived fish Nothobranchius furzeri.
M. Mazzetto1,2, M. Baumgart2, M. Groth2, A. Martirosyan2, M. Ermolaeva2, M. Platzer2, A. Cellerino1,2
1Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy, 2Fritz-Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany

12.15
Identification and application of gene expression signatures of lifespan-extending interventions
A. Tyshkovskiy1,2, R.A. Miller3, V.N. Gladyshev1
1Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, 2Center for Data-Intensive Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russian Federation, 3Department of Pathology and Geriatrics Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Montreal

10.45 – 12.30

EMBO Scientific Session

Parallel session 6: Model systems in disease

Chair:
Cayetano Gonzalez (Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain)

10.45
Using Drosophila tumours to understand malignant and normal growth during development
Cayetano Gonzalez (Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain)

11.10
Models and model systems: the nutritional geometry of health and ageing
Stephen Simpson (University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)

11.35
When the young die old: the premature aging disease Progeria and Lamin A processing by ZMPSTE24
Susan Michaelis (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States)

Abstract presentations

12.00
Active chromatin markers H3K36me and MRG-1 drive heterochromatin spatial sequestration in differentiated cells in C. elegans
D.S. Cabianca¹, C. Muñoz Jiménez², V. Kalck¹, D. Gaidatzis¹, J. Padeken¹, A. Seeber¹, P. Askjaer², S.M. Gasser^1
1Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland, ²Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology, Sevilla, Spain

12.30
Human brain organoids with functional eyecups
J. Gopalakrishnan
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Singapore

12.25 – 14.00

Lunch break

14.00 – 15.40

EMBO Scientific Session

Plenary session 5: Metabolic disorders – Diabetes and obesity

Chair:
Helena Edlund (University of Umeå, Sweden)

14.00
PAN-AMPK activator O304 improves glucose homeostasis and microvascular perfusion in mice and type2 diabetes patients
Helena Edlund (University of Umeå, Sweden)

14.25
Obesity and its metabolic consequences: lessons from human genetics
Stephen O'Rahilly (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)

14.50
MicroRNAs and RNA-binding proteins as regulators of metabolism
Markus Stoffel (ETH, Zurich, Switzerland)

15.15
Adipose tissue expandability, lipotoxicity and the metabolic syndrome
Antonio Vidal-Puig (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)

Montreal

15.40 – 15.55

EMBO Session

Closing address

Montreal