Protein phase transitions in ageing and age-related diseases: from atomic resolution to cellular solutions

Chairperson: Ellen Nollen
European Research Institute for the Biology of Aging, University Medical Center Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Phone: +31 6 52724881
Email: e.a.a.nollen@umcg.nl

Vice-chairperson: Ronald Melki
Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases, CNRS, Institut Francois Jacob (MIRCen), CEA, 18 Route du Panorama, 92265 Fontenay-Aux-Roses cedex, France
Phone: +33 (0)1 46 54 93 78
Email: ronald.melki@cnrs.fr

Cells and organisms maintain protein homeostasis in several cooperating ways, which include protein folding, degradation, and sequestration. During aging, the capacity to maintain protein homeostasis declines, which leads to the accumulation of aggregation-prone proteins. These aggregation-prone proteins can accelerate aging and cause age-related diseases like Parkinson’s disease, tauopathies, Alzheimer’s, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. How they do so is still not fully understood. Understanding the underlying mechanisms will be important for the development of therapeutic strategies. Recent groundbreaking discoveries have revealed new aspects of protein homeostatic and pathological mechanisms. These include the phenomena of protein phase transitions in membrane-less organelles and the existence of amyloid polymorphisms that are associated with protein toxicity. These phenomena are shared by a range of stress and age-related conditions. This Jacques Monod meeting will highlight these phenomenon, including the biological mechanisms and structural features involved. New findings will be presented by scientists that pioneered the research in these areas. Regulation of both physiological and disease-related transitions will be addressed as well as perspectives on biomedical applications.

The meeting will bring together leading experts in the fields of structural biology, cell biology, physiology and medical biology. It aims to foster exchange of knowledge across these fields and to stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration to further advance the filed.

Invited speakers
(provisional titles)

• Wolfgang Baumeister (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany)
  Visualizing phase-separated compartments by cryo-electron tomography
   
• Séverine Boillee (Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France)
  Contribution of microglial cells and macrophages to disease progression in ALS
   
• Bernd Bukau (Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany)
  Action of molecular chaperones on protein aggregates
   
• Serena Carra (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy)
  Condensates targeting as a strategy to prevent irreversible protein aggregation during stress
   
• Olga Corti (Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France)
  Mitochondrial quality control in Parkinson’s disease
   
• Luc Dupuis (Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France)
  Cellular mechanisms of ALS
   
• Chris Donnely (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburg, USA)
  RNA binding and TDP-43 toxicity

• Monica Driscoll (Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA)
  Cellular clearance of aggregates through exophers

• Zoher Gueroui (École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France)
  RNA and Phase separation
   
• Ulrich Hartl (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany)
  Chaperone mediated folding
   
• Sandrine Humbert (University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France)
  Huntingtin functions in Huntington disease
   
• Dan Jarosz (Stanford University, Stanford, USA)
  Phase separation and aggregation in an aging vertebrate proteome
   
• Jeff Kelly (The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA)
  Therapeutic strategies for systemic amyloidosis
   
• Cynthia Kenyon (University of California, San Francisco, USA)
  Protein homeostasis in aging
   
• Janine Kirstein (University of Bremen, Germany)
  Chaperone mediated suppression and disaggregation of HTT fibrils
   
• Martin Lenz (Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay CEDEX, France)
  Biophysics of self-driven biological systems
   
• Sofia Lovestam (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK)
  Visualizing Protein Aggregates
   
• Andreas Martin (University of California, Berkely, USA)
  Proteasomal protein degradation
   
• Ronald Melki (CNRS, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France)
  Fibril polymorphisms and propagation
   
• Ellen Nollen (ERIBA, Groningen, The Netherlands)
  Cellular modifiers of protein toxicity
   
• Magdalena Polymenidou (University of Zurich, , Zurich, Switzerland)
  The different phases of TDP-43
   
• David Rubinsztein (University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK)
  Autophagy and neurodegeneration
   
• Reut Shalgi (Israel Institute of Technology)
  Regulation of pathological condensates by molecular chaperones
   
• Terence Strick (Institut Jacques Monod, Paris France)
  New tools for the high-resolution study of protein-protein interactions
   
• Sander Tans (AMOLF, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
  Protein processing at the single-molecule level
   
• Paul J Taylor (St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, USA)
  Beyond aggregation: pathological phase transitions in neurological disease

Deadline for application: July 1st, 2022

Registration fee (including board and lodging)

• 470 € for PhD students
• 760 € 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: https://cjm4-2020.sciencesconf.org/

• 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. Presenting author underlined
• 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.