Epigenetics in Development and Disease: perspectives from multiple organisms

Aussois (Alpes), France - January 4-8, 2006

Download the poster of the conference

Chairperson: Luisa DANDOLO
Genomic Imprinting Group
GDPM Department
Institut Cochin
F - 75014 PARIS France
Phone: +33 1 44 41 24 55 Fax: +33 1 44 41 24 48
E-mail: dandolo@cochin.inserm.fr

 

Vice-Chairperson: Anne FERGUSON-SMITH

University of Cambridge
Department of Anatomy
Downing Street
UK-CAMBRIDGE CB2 3DY United Kingdom
Phone: +44 1223 333 761
E-mail: afsmith@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk

Over the recent years, the field of Epigenetics has become an exciting and very rapidly moving subject with impacts not only in fundamental research but also in clinical medecine. While the understanding of some processes is beginning to emerge, many questions remain about basic mechanisms and reprogramming of the genome. Our aim in this conference is to bring together researchers from Europe and overseas (including Japan, USA and Australia) working with different organisms as diverse as yeast, fungi, plants and mammals. We will attempt to focus on the similarities and differences of epigenetic phenomena between species, in the hope of unravelling general strategies of gene regulation. We will also emphasize the increasingly important role of epigenetic mechanisms in human disease. The sessions will focus on :

  • Epigenetic mechanisms
  • DNA methylation and Histone modifications
  • Chromatin interactions
  • Dosage compensation and X chromosome inactivation
  • Genomic imprinting
  • Non-coding RNAs
  • Gene silencing and genomic rearrangements
  • Development and Reprogramming
  • Epigenetics and Disease
  • Epigenomics

 

Invited speakers

(Provisional titles)

AKHTAR Asifa (Heidelberg, Germany) Dosage compensation - old complex new facts

ALMOUZNI Geneviève (Paris, France) Chromatin assembly and pattern of histone modifications

ARCANGIOLI Benoit (Paris, France) A single strand imprint triggers asymmetric division in S. pombe

AVNER Philip (Paris, France) Epigenetic Plasticity and Imprinted X-inactivation in Trophoblastic stem cells

BARLOW Denise (Vienna, Austria) The mouse Igf2r/Air imprinted cluster - a prototype maternal imprinting system

BEAUJEAN Nathalie (Jouy-en-Josas, France) Heterochromatin reprogramming in the mammalian embryo after fertilisation or nuclear transfer

BARTOLOMEI Marisa (Philadelphia, U.S.A.) H19 imprinting: regulation in cis and trans

BOURC'HIS Deborah (Paris, France) Sexual dimorphism in genomic imprinting

BROCKDORFF Neil (London, United Kingdom) The inactive X chromosome as a model for epigenetic regulation of the genome

BUITING Karin (Essen, Germany) Epimutations in Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes

COLOT Vincent (Paris, France) Arabidopsis epigenetics and the inheritance of phenotypes

DANDOLO Luisa (Paris, France) H19-Igf2 locus: Role of the non coding H19 RNA

DEFOSSEZ Pierre Antoine (Paris, France) Two new human proteins that bind methylated DNA

FEIL Robert (Montpellier, France) Imprinted gene silencing by histone methylation and Polycomb repressor complexes

FERGUSON-SMITH Anne (Cambridge, United Kingdom) Genomic imprinting and the pre and postnatal regulation of nutritional resources

GRAVES Jennifer (Canberra, Australia) What marsupials and monotremes can tell us about epigenetics

HEARD Edith (Paris, France) Dynamics of epigenetic changes and nuclear organisation during the X-inactivation process in mice

KHOCHBIN Saadi (La Tronche, France) Molecular basis of genome re-organisation during post-meiotic maturation of male germ cells

MARTIENSSEN Rob (Cold Spring Harbor, U.S.A.) Making sense of junk RNA

MEYER Eric (Paris, France) RNA-mediated programming of developmental genome rearrangements in ciliates

ORLANDO Valerio (Naples, Italy) Role and mechanisms of Polycomb proteins in epigenome reprogramming

REIK Wolf (Cambridge, United Kingdom) Epigenetic regulation of imprinting and genome reprogramming

SADO Takashi (Mishima, Japan) Towards the understanding of antisense regulation at the Xist locus

SELKER Eric (Eugene, U.S.A.) DNA methylation and genome defense in Neurospora crassa

SURANI Azim (Cambridge, United Kingdom) Progressive epigenetic programming in early embryos and germ cells

van STEENSEL Bas (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Whole-genome views on chromatin structure and gene regulation

WALTER Jörn (Saarbrücken, Germany) Mechanisms of epigenetic reprogramming in mammals

Deadline for application: November 2, 2005

 

Registration fee (including board and lodging)

350 € for PhD students
550 € for other participants

Application for registration

The total number of participants is limited to about 100 and all participants are expected to attend for the whole duration of the conference. Selection is made on the basis of the affinity of potential participants with the topics of the conference. Scientists and PhD Students interested in the meeting should send:

  • their curriculum vitae
  • the list of their main publications for the 3 last years
  • the abstract of their presentation
to the chairman of the conference before the deadline. After it, the chairman will select the participants. Except in some particular cases approved by the chairperson, it is recommended that all selected participants present their work during the conference, either in poster form or by a brief in- session talk. The organizers choose the form in which the presentations are made. No payment will be sent with application. Information on how and when to pay will be mailed in due time to those selected.