New ideas for an old family: Heat Shock Factors at crossroads between stress, epigenetics and development

Roscoff (Brittany), France, September 17-21, 2008

Deadline for application: June 1st, 2008

• Chairperson: Valérie MEZGER,

  Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire du Stress, CNRS UMR8541 Génétique Moléculaire,
  École Normale Supérieure, 46, rue d’Ulm, 75230 PARIS Cedex 05, France
  Phone: +33 1 44 32 39 45 – Fax: +33 1 44 32 39 41
  E-mail: mezger@biologie.ens.fr

• Vice-Chairperson: Lea SISTONEN

  Department of Biology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku Centre for Biotechnology, BioCity (5th floor), Tykistokatu 6 B (P.O.Box 123), FIN - 20521 Turku, Finland
  Phone : +358-2-333 8028 / +358-2-215 3311 – Fax: +358-2-333 8000
  Mel : lea.sistonen@btk.fi

The Jacques Monod Conference «New ideas for an old family: Heat Shock Factors at crossroads between stress, epigenetics and development» aims to gather international speakers who have recently contributed to invaluable breakthroughs in our understanding of the transcriptional regulators called Heat Shock Factors (HSFs). This conference will offer great opportunity to all researchers interested in this field to get an overview of the important roles of these transcription factors in normal biology and pathologies.

HSFs were originally characterized as main transcriptional regulators of the Heat Shock Response (HSR). In 1962, HSR was accidentally discovered in Drosophila by Ferruccio Ritossa. A finding that could have remained an anecdotic observation turned out to be a universal response from bacteria to man upon exposure to a large variety of stress, collectively called proteotoxic stress. Cells respond to such stress by dramatically elevating the synthesis of evolutionary conserved proteins, Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs), which function as molecular chaperones to protect cells and organisms against protein damage.

However, the role of HSFs is not restricted to the regulation of Hsp gene induction. A multitude of studies on cellular and animal model systems as well as genomewide analyses have unravelled the involvement of HSFs in numerous cellular regulatory cascades. The goal of this conference is to bring out an integrative view of the complexity of the HSF world through eight sessions of presentations and discussions.

• HSF activation in response to stress
• HSFs and maintenance of organ integrity and longevity
• HSFs in physiopathological situations
• Interplay between HSFs
• HSFs and epigenetics
• HSFs, gametogenesis and preimplantation development
• HSFs in postimplantation development
• Bioinformatics and mathematical modeling

Invited speakers

(Provisional titles)

BENJAMIN Ivor (Salt Lake City, USA)
Conditional Models of Mammalian HSF1: What can they teach us about Stress Response Pathways and Adaptive Mechanisms?

CALDERWOOD Stuart F. ( Boston, USA)
HSF1, a factor in cancer

CHRISTIANS Élisabeth (Toulouse, France )
The role of HSFs during gametogenesis and embryonic development

DUMOLLARD Rémi (Villefranche sur Mer, France )
Impact of energetic and redox metabolism on early development

JOLLY Caroline (La Tronche, France)
General histone modifications during heat shock

LE DRÉAN Yves (Rennes, France)
Implication of HSF1 and HSF2 in cellular response to proteasome inhibition

LIS John T. (Ithaca, USA)
Heat Shock Factor Function and Dynamics Examined In Vivo

MEZGER Valérie (Paris, France)
HSF2 in the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells

MIVECHI Nahid (Agusta, USA)
Role of HSFs in tumorigenesis

MORIMOTO Richard I. ( Evanston, USA)
A Systems Approach to Stress Responses: Roles of Hsf1 in Development, Proteotoxic Stress, and Longevity

NAKAI Akira ( Ube, Japan )
HSF interplay during sensory placode development

 NUDLER Evgeni ( New York, USA)
Non-coding RNA mediates HSF activation during heat shock

 PETRE Ion (Turku, Finland )

Mathematical modeling of the heat shock response in mammals

SANTORO Gabriella ( Roma, Italy )
Intercross between inflammation and heat shock

SARAIVA Maria João (Porto, Portugal)
A compromised heat shock response by ablation of HSF1 accelerates protein misfolding and tissue deposition in an animal model of amyloid peripheral neuropathy

SARGE Kevin (Lexington, USA)
HSF and bookmarking

SCHARF Klaus-Dieter (Frankfurt, Germany)
The complexity of HSF family in plants

SISTONEN Lea (Turku, Finland)
The regulation of HSF activity by postranslational modifications

THIELE Dennis J. (Durham, USA)
Yeast HSF as a paradigm for understanding the physiological function of mammalian HSF1

TORA Làzlò ( Illkirch, France)
HSF and epigenetics

VAN HELDEN Jacques (Bruxelles – Belgium)
Bioinformatics approaches for the detection of HSF binding sites in genomic sequences.

VON KOSKULL-DÖRING Pascal (Frankfurt, Germany)
Unraveling the Complexity of the Plant Hsf Family

VOURC'H Claire ( Grenoble, France)
Stress granules, ICF and Heat Shock Factors

XIAO Xianzhong (Changsha, Peoples Republic of China)
HSF1 in oxidative and inflamatory stress

 

Deadline for application: June 1st, 2008

Registration fee (including board and lodging)

• 400€ for PhD students
• 600€ for other participants

Application for registration

The total number of participants is limited to about 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 send:

• their curriculum vitae
• the list of their main publications for the 3 last years
• the abstract of their presentation

to the Chairperson 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.