Molecular basis for membrane remodelling and organisation

Chairperson: Emmanuelle Bayer

Laboratoire de Biogenèse Membranaire, UMR5200 CNRS Université de Bordeaux, 71 Avenue Edouard Bourlaux CS 20032, 33140 Villenave d'Ornon France

Phone: +33 (0)6 89 55 96 77

Email: emmanuelle.bayer@u-bordeaux.fr

Vice-chairperson: Volker Haucke

Leibniz Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare, Pharmakologie (FMP), Robert-Roessle-Strasse 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany

Phone: +49 30 94793 101

Email: Haucke@fmp-berlin.de

Biological membranes serve as barriers, enabling the isolation of cells from their surroundings and the compartmentalization of a cell's interior into distinct intracellular compartments with specific functions. Biological membranes are essential for life and they undergo constant remodeling to facilitate the selective exchange of molecules, support shape transitions during physiological processes, the development of tissues and organisms, as well as intra- and inter-cellular communication. Dysregulation of these processes is intricately connected to human diseases but also to plant development and adaptation to their environment. 

The 2025 "Molecular Basis for Membrane Remodeling and Organization conference "focuses on recent advances in the field of membrane biology. It will cover topics related to fundamental cellular processes such as the principles of membrane organization and dynamics, the interaction between lipids and proteins, membrane biophysics, membrane lipid signaling, exo- and endocytosis, vesicle budding, organelle membrane deformation and fission, autophagy, cell communication and signaling and membrane contact sites. The field of membrane biology constitutes a fruitful ground of conceptual and methodological innovation ranging from theoretical modelling by applying principles of soft matter physics via high resolution imaging and structural biology approaches to genetic studies at the organismal level. The aim of this meeting is to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of researchers working on different aspects of membrane organisation, remodelling and function to present the state-of-the-art (including unpublished work), facilitate the exchange of ideas, expertise and create networking opportunities for the members of the community.

Invited speakers

(provisional titles)

Andrea Ablasser (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland) 
Sensing DNA as a danger signal through the cGAS-STING pathway 

Bruno Antonny (Institut de pharmacologie moléculaire et cellulaire de Valbonne, Valbonne, France) 
Changes in lipid arrangement upon surface tension or membrane curvature as cellular information for protein targeting  

Patricia Bassereau (Institut Curie, Paris, France) 
Caveolin: which role in lipid transport and membrane shaping? 

Emmanuelle Bayer (Laboratoire de Biogenèse Membranaire, CNRS, Université Bordeaux, France) 
Facilitationg cell-cell communication through incomplete cell division  

Joerg Bewersdorf (Yale University School of Medecine, New Haven, USA) 
All-Optical Super-Resolution Imaging of Molecules in Their Nanoscale Cellular Context 

Yohann Boutte (Laboratoire de Biogenèse Membranaire, CNRS, Université Bordeaux, France) 
A two-tails story on how lipid-lipid interactions shape membrane trafficking, cell polarity and signaling in plants 

Oliver Daumke (Max-Delbrück-Centrum for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany) 
DNA origami as tool to study mechanisms of membrane trafficking 

Pietro De Camilli (Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA) 
Bridge-like intracellular lipid transport in physiology and disease 

Adam Frost (Altos Labs, Redwood City, CA, USA) 
Membrane Biophysics through the Lens of the Electron Microscope 

Anne-Claude Gavin Perrin (University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland) 
A system-wide analysis of lipid transfer proteins in human cells 

Francesca Giordano (Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France) 
Regulation of lipid transport at the mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum-lipid droplet interface 

Gillian Griffiths (Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, United Kingdom) 
Dynamic membrane changes controlling immune cell secretion 

Volker Haucke (Leibniz Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP), Germany) 
Lipid-triggered membrane remodeling in endocytosis and endolysosomal membrane dynamics 

Jenny Hinshaw (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA) 
Cryo-EM Structures of Dynamin Proteins Involved in Membrane Fission and Fusion  

Yvon Jaillais (ENS-Lyon university-CNRS-INRAE, Lyon, France) 
Regulation of plant Rho GTPase nanoscale localization and dynamics and their importance in signaling specificity 

Ludger Johannes (Institut Curie, Paris, France) 
Glycan-based membrane remodeling for endocytic uptake into cells 

Wanda Kukulski (University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland) 
The architecture of organelle contact sites 

Ilya Levental (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA) 
The weird and wild world of asymmetric membranes 

Aurélien Roux (University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland) 
Dynamic in vitro reconstitution of ESCRT-III membrane remodelling with Archaeal proteins 

Sara Sigismund (Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milano, Italy) 
Regulation of growth factor signalling via membrane contact sites 

Marija Smokvarska (Laboratoire de Biogenèse Membranaire, CNRS, Université Bordeaux, France) 
Connecting plant cells: The role of membrane contact sites in regulating cell-cell communication 

Abdou-Rachid Thiam (Laboratoire de physique, ENS-PSL, Paris, France) 
From the Biophysics to the Cell Biology of Lipid Homeostasis  

Stefano Vanni (University of Fribourg, Fribourg. Switzerland) 
Discovering new membrane proteins' functions with multi-scale molecular simulations 

Shigeki Watanabe (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA) 
Mechanisms of synaptic membrane remodeling 

Ling-Gang Wu (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA) 
Exo- and endocytosis: membrane transformation, underlying mechanics, and functions

Deadline for application: January 31, 2025

Registration fee (including board and lodging)

550 € for PhD students 

770 € for other participants 

Application for registration 

The total number of participants is limited to 115 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 deposit online before the deadline: link coming soon

• their curriculum vitae
• the proof of their student status
• the list of their main publications for the 3 last years
• the abstract of their presentation:

The abstract must respect the following template:

• First line: title
• Second line: list of authors
• Third line: author's addresses
• Fourth line: e-mail of the presenting author

Abstract should not exceed 600 words. No figures.

After the deadline, the organizers 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.