The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK
| Speakers | Venue | Registration | Conference Website |
The genome of various
mammalian species is now fully sequenced, and its approximately 30000 genes
are known. This is only the beginning, however, of functional genomics, which
will explore the function and regulation of genes in the genome. One central
question in functional genomics is how different sets of genes are expressed
or repressed during development and differentiation. This is thought to occur
through a combination of transcription factors and repressors, and chromatin
modifications, ie the epigenetic 'code'.
Both DNA methylation and a myriad of histone modifications play central roles in the regulation of transcription, and particularly its maintenance during differentiation. An integrated functional understanding (including Epigenomics) of how epigenetic marks are initiated, maintained, and what functions of the cell and organism they affect, is not only key to a fundamental biological understanding of our genome, but also pivotal for many applications in medicine and biotechnology. For example, the promise of stem cell therapies can only be fully realised when differentiation and reprogramming can be carried out in a controlled way, which needs the identification of epigenetic factors involved in the process.
Epigenetics has been growing enormously as a field over the last few years. This is not only because of significant progress in individual areas (eg imprinting, DNA methylation, chromatin) but also because over the past few years an integrated understanding of the different systems, organisms, and biochemical processes is emerging, which makes bringing together of scientists from different areas of epigenetics particularly productive and enjoyable. Very recently, the new area of Epigenomics has arisen which uses large scale genomic methods to address epigenetics issues genome wide.
The themes of the conference embrace the main 'hot' topics in Epigenetics (for example cloning and stem cells), but in particular aim to make connections between epigenetics and chromatin on the one hand (Surani, Jaenisch, Barlow, Gurdon, Dean, Kouzarides, Henikoff and others), and DNA recombination, repair, and maintenance on the other (Lindahl, Schaer, Verreault, Almouzni and others), since the first few glimpses of exciting links between these areas are just beginning to emerge. Another area that is developing prominently and is incorporated is Epigenomics (eg Schuebeler, Martienssen). We have put together what we consider an exciting programme with top international speakers (with a European focus). It is worth noting that the science focus of our conference (dynamic genome) is unique, and hence different from the more traditional Epigenetics focus that the other 2005 Conferences will have (EMBO, Keystone, Gordon Research).
The Conference
will be housed in the beautiful country estate setting of the Babraham
Institute 3 miles south of Cambridge, with state of the art conference and
entertainment facilities, including a marquee on the lawn of the estate house.
Delegates will be accommodated at Homerton
College in Cambridge, thus adding interest to delegates by being able to
experience the unique atmosphere of the Cambridge college life. Bus transport
will be provided to delegates between the two sites.
The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK
30 June - 2 July, 2005
Speakers:
Genevieve Almouzni Institute Curie, Paris, France
Philip Avner Pasteur Institute, France
Denise Barlow University of Vienna, Austria
David Bonthron University of Leeds, UK
Neil Brockdorff MRC CSC, London, UK
Vicki Chandler University of Arizona, USA
Peter Cook University of Oxford, UK
Anne Corcoran The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK
Caroline Dean John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK
Robert Feil Montpellier, France
Anne Ferguson-Smith, University of Cambridge, UK
Robert Fischer University of California Berkeley, USA
Ueli Grossniklaus, Zurich, Switzerland
John Gurdon Wellcome CRC Institute, Cambridge, UK
Steve Henikoff Fred Hutchinson, Seattle, USA
Rudolf Jaenisch Whitehead Institute USA
Gavin Kelsey The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK
Tony Kouzarides Wellcome CRC Institute, Cambridge, UK
Thomas Lindahl Clare Hall, UK
Rob Martiennsen Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA
Renato Paro ZMBH, Germany
Svend Petterson-Mahrt Clare Hall, UK
Hiroyuki Sasaki National Institute of Genetics, Japan
Primo Schaer Institute of Molecular Cancer Research, Zurich, Switzerland
Dirk Schubeler Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland
Ron Schwartz National Institute of Health, USA
Rod Scott University of Bath, UK
Austin Smith Centre for Genome Research, Edinburgh, UK
Azim Surani Wellcome Cancer Research, Cambridge, UK
Bryan Turner University of Birmingham, UK
Patrick Varga Weisz The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK
Alain Verreault Clare Hall Laboratories, UK
Lawrence Wilkinson The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK
Keynote Lecture
An opening keynote lecture will be given by Professor John Gurdon on Thursday
30th June entitled 'Nuclear reprogramming in Xenopus'
Registration is now closed.
