Workshop Listing

WORKSHOPS LISTING

•Wednesday, April 3   12:00 NOON–6:00 PM
Ecdysone Workshop

The Ecdysone Workshop welcomes all those interested in insect endocrinology. The topics covered include, but are not limited to, hormone synthesis and secretion, and hormonal control of transcription, differentiation, morphogenesis, growth, metabolism, timing and behavior. Importantly, this workshop is a forum to discuss the role of different hormones (like 20-hydroxyecdysone, juvenile hormone, peptide hormones, insulin) and the crosstalk between their signaling pathways. Platform talks of 15 minutes will be selected from interested applicants and grouped into sessions, with each session highlighted by an invited speaker. To apply and/or receive the final program, please email the organizers (robward@ku.edu or gcarney@bio.tamu.edu).

•Wednesday, April 3   3:00 PM–5:00 PM
Federal Funding Opportunities and the Proposal Review Process
A GSA Career Development Workshop

Participants will become aware of multiple federal funding opportunities through the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. A panel discussion with program officers will be followed by a hands on exercise to examine program solicitations and review criteria, and to work through the mechanics of writing a good proposal.

•Friday, April 5   1:30 PM–4:00 PM
Undergraduate Plenary Session and Workshop

Undergraduate conference attendees will attend an "Undergraduate Plenary Session" from 1:30-2:45 pm, with talks presented at a level appropriate for an undergraduate audience. From 3:00-4:00 pm, undergraduates will have a chance to talk to a panel of graduate students about graduate school, applications, interviewing, admission, choosing a lab, and quality of life in graduate school.

Mariana Wolfner:
"What's love got to do with it?: interactions between males, females and their molecules during Drosophila reproduction."

John Carlson:
"Chemosensory Perception in the Fly"

•Friday, April 5   1:45 PM–3:45 PM
The Future of Drosophila Genomics

The Future of Drosophila Genomics workshop will update the community on the current status of model organism genomic projects and lead discussions on possible future projects. Topics include genomics, proteomics, epigenomics and the regulome.

•Friday, April 5   1:45 PM–3:45 PM
Apoptosis, Autophagy and other Cell Death Mechanisms

This workshop is a forum for the discussion of cell death mechanisms in Drosophila. Apoptosis is the most widely recognized form of cell death in development. However, there is increasing awareness that alternative cell death mechanisms exist. Autophagy has emerged as an important pathway for cell death during metamorphosis. Other non-apoptotic forms of cell death (Entosis, Necrosis) have also been described. The workshop is intended to highlight recent advances in cell death research and to foster communication and collaboration between individuals working in the field. Topics will include all aspects of cell death regulation for Drosophila biology.

Richa Arya and Kristin White. Mass General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Regulation of life and death fate in Drosophila neural stem cells.

Francesco Napoletano and Bertrand Mollereau. Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, France. Caspases antagonize necrotic cell death in the Drosophila Rieske iron-sulfur protein mutant.

Allison Timmons and Kim McCall. Boston University. The contribution of follicle cells to non-apoptotic programmed cell death of nurse cells during late oogenesis.

Indrayani Waghmare and Madhuri Kango-Singh. University of Dayton, OH. Analysis of Yorkie activity in scribble mutant cells challenged with different cell competitive environments.

Hyung Don Ryoo and Jun Morishita. NYU Medical School. CDK7 regulates the mitochondrial localization of a tail-anchored pro-apoptotic protein, Hid.

Caitlin Fogarty and Andreas Bergmann. UMass Medical School. Characterization of genes involved in apoptosis-induced proliferation.

•Friday, April 5   1:45 PM–3:45 PM
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex

The workshop will cover the molecular genetics, development, neurobiology, genomics, evolution, and population genetics of sexual dimorphism, with an emphasis on cross-disciplinary interactions. Presentations by invited speakers and selected abstracts from each discipline will be followed by moderated discussions. The speakers are encouraged to summarize the key ideas behind their research for people working in other fields, outline the main unsolved questions, offer their opinions about future directions, and suggest connections that could be built with other disciplines.

•Friday, April 5   1:45 PM–3:45 PM
Effectively Integrating Undergraduates into a Research Program

This workshop will be presented by researchers who have successfully mentored undergraduates through their research programs.  Whether you are preparing to pursue an academic career at a primarily undergraduate institution or at a doctoral degree granting institution with a significant undergraduate population, your strategies may include developing an undergraduate course that is research based, or creating teams of graduate and undergraduate students. Such activities are especially useful to demonstrate to funding agencies, the inclusion and mentoring components of your research program. Participants will have the opportunity to work on a "road-map" for involving undergraduates in their research.

•Saturday, April 6   6:45 PM–8:45 PM
Myofibril Assembly

Myofibrils consist of arrays of sarcomeres, the smallest contractile units in muscle, where overlapping actin and myosin filaments are anchored at the Z-disc and M-line, respectively. This workshop will cover mechanisms of myofibril assembly and how they contribute to the highly ordered and stable arrangement of protein complexes found in the sarcomere.

6:45 pm: Frieder Schöck: The nebulin family protein Lasp regulates thin filament length in myofibrils. McGill University, Quebec, Canada

7:05 pm: Frank Schnorrer: Tension and force-resistant attachment is essential for myofibrillogenesis in Drosophila flight muscle. Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany

7:30 pm: Anthony Cammarato: Transgenic Replacement of the Myosin S2/HMM Hinge Alters the Rod's Nano-Mechanical Properties and Affects Sarcomeric Organization. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

7:55 pm: Amy Kiger: Formation and remodeling of the myofiber T-tubule membrane network. University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

8:20 pm: Meera Viswanathan: Myosin storage myopathy mutations disrupt myofibrillar assembly/stability and cause progressive muscle degeneration in a Drosophila model. San Diego State University, CA, USA

•Saturday, April 6   6:45 PM–8:45 PM
Drosophila As A Model For Drug Discovery

Recent successes using Drosophila for drug screening have brought attention to the fly as an emerging model that holds great promise for the rapid discovery of high quality therapeutic leads. Talks from expert speakers will include success stories of FDA approved or clinical trial ready therapies initiated in the fly model. Talks will also discuss screening approaches using various human disease models ranging from cancer to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. A summary discussion will focus on identifying opportunities and challenges associated with using Drosophila for drug discovery, and strategies for increasing its visibility with funding agencies and pharmaceutical companies.

1. Tin Tin Su - University of Colorado, Boulder. A fly screen for combination therapies for oncology use

2. Michele Markstein - University of Massachusetts, Amherst Side effect of chemotherapy induces stem cell derived tumors

3. Helena Richardson - Peter McCallum Cancer Center, Melbourne, Australia Screening for compounds that reduce RasV12 scrib mutant tumour burden in whole larvae

4. Claudio Sunkel - Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular - IBMC, Porto, Portugal. A tumour suppressor role for mitotic checkpoint proteins in flies.

5. Ross Cagan - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. Flies as a tool to explore polypharmacology

6. Linda Restifo - University of Arizona. Simple bioassays for drug and neurotoxin discovery to enhance brain development.

7. Daniel Marenda - Drexel University. Rapid screening for drug efficacy in a Drosophila model of Alzheimer's Disease.

8. Daniela Zarnescu - University of Arizona. Deciphering the role and therapeutic potential of the insulin signaling pathway in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

•Saturday, April 6   6:45 PM–8:45 PM
Drosophila Research and Pedagogy at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUI)

This workshop focuses on increasing the quality and visibility of Drosophila research performed at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) and facilitating faculty and students in these endeavors. The goals include: 1) encouraging undergraduate research by providing a forum for students to make oral presentations; 2) connecting people interested in this career path with current PUI faculty; 3) establishing a network among current PUI faculty to promote discussion and provide support on professional issues that differ from those at large institutions; 4) sharing concepts and techniques that encourage the integration of Drosophila as a teaching tool in the classroom and laboratory.

•Saturday, April 6   6:45 PM–8:45 PM
Wound Healing and Regeneration

Drosophila is emerging as an important model system for understanding both wound healing and regeneration of tissues and organs. The goal for this workshop is to bring together presentations of recent work from researchers studying tissue repair in diverse contexts. This workshop will highlight and encourage discussion of the themes in this field including, but not limited to: cellular re-specification, cell biological mechanisms in tissue repair, inflammatory and innate immune responses to tissue damage, developmental contexts required for tissue repair, and comparisons and/or distinctions between tissue repair and tissue development.

•Saturday, April 6   6:45 PM–8:45 PM
A Practical Guide to Understand the Concept of Bistability: From Models to Biological Behavior

Bistability has long been established in control of the cell cycle and other oscillations. In Drosophila, spatial bistability has been proposed for dorso-ventral and more recently anterior-posterior patterning. We intend to present this theoretical concept for researchers and students with background in biology, avoiding unnecessary theoretical details. The experimental behavior of simple bistable systems will be described, followed by simple rules to build comprehensive and realist models exhibiting this behavior. The importance of the applications of this theoretical concept to Drosophila research will be discussed as well as the most recent results found in the literature.

Talk 1:

Understanding the concept of bistability. Francisco J. P. Lopes, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Talk 2:

Model-based network identification of Drosophila germline stem cell regulation mechanisms David Umulis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

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