High Throughput Biology 2010
16-17 September 2010
Stockholm, Sweden

Organisers:

Draft Report

Summary

On 16-17th September, the 2nd bi-annual High Throughput Biology (HTB 2010) international conference took place at the Karolinska Institutet,in Stockholm Sweden. The conference also acted as the grand opening of the Karolinska Institutet High Throughput Center (KHTC) which is currently Europe’s most sophisticated HT screening facility. The lectures given at HTB 2010 focused on how HT methods and techniques could be applied to understanding the genetics and mechanisms of cancer and other clinically relevant diseases. More than 200 high-profile national and international principle investigators, senior scientists, postdoctoral fellows and industry representatives from Sweden, Finland and the rest of Europe participated in the 2 day conference along with the 19 invited speakers. As a parallel event, a 2-day exhibition for biotech companies was held, where 21 companies demonstrated their products.

Thanks to the conference sponsors, 19 invited speakers and 200 delegates were able to take part in the conference free of charge. The HTB 2010 conference was financially supported by the European Science Foundation, the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskaprådet), the Department of Bioscience and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Euro-Gene-Scan FP7:Health F5-2008-223293 and the 21 companies.

Scientific Content

This high profile international conferencewas organized by Professor Jussi Taipale, Dr. Minna Taipale and Dr. James Thompson of the Karolinska High Throughput Center. The two day conference covered prominent high throughput research areas including Functional and Chemical Genomics, Systems Biology of Transcriptional Regulation, Model Organisms and Proteomics. An unparalleled assembly of distinguished national and international high throughput research pioneers gave high impact presentations. The two day scientific program of the HTB 2010 and comprised 19 speakers divided
scientifically into seven sessions plus the Grand Opening and tour of the KHTC, see below. All the confirmed speakers were able to participate and actively took part in the meeting by interacting with scientists in the audience, asking questions and quite a few new collaboration ideas were initiated. The talks were aimed at:

• Improving awareness amongst the European and international scientific community how high throughput methods can accelerate research in the most rapidly developing fields of biology related to public health

• Highlighting the significance, potential, and flexibility of cell-based functional genomics and chemical genetics assays in high throughput format to the Nordic/European biomedical and clinical research community

• Further develop research initiatives and collaborations with European and international academic
and commercial high throughput laboratories

• Generate novel ideas related to the conference presentations that can then be implemented at both a Nordic and pan-European level to increase the impact of European science.

 • Establishing a strong European identity and promote the scientific excellence of the facility

The Scientific sessions and talks were as follows:

Session 1: Transcription 1
Timothy Hughes, U. Toronto, Canada: Mapping the protein-nucleic acid interactome
Sarah Teichmann, MRC, UK: Genomic analysis of transcriptional regulation in mammals
Mitchell Lazar, U. Pennsylvania, USA: Epigenomic regulation of metabolism by nuclear receptors
Miles Rackliff, Agilent Automated Solutions: Application, Application, Application…

Session 2: Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology
Frederic de Sauvage, Genentech, USA: Development of hedgehog pathway inhibitors: from bench to clinic
Thomas Helleday, Stockholm Univ., Sweden: Homologous recombination: from basic mechanisms to cancer treatments
Lawrence Lum, U. Texas Southwestern, USA: Wnt signaling: a chemical genomics-based perspective

Session 3: Proteomics
Mathias Uhlén, Royal Technical College (KTH), Sweden: The Human Proteome Project - annotation of the protein encoded genes of the human genome
Patrick Lemaire, U. Marseilles, France: From genome sequence to the control of cell shapes and morphogenesis in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis

Grand Opening of the Karolinska High Throughput Center
Jussi Taipale, Karolinska High Throughput Center (KHTC):Welcome address
Fredrik Fagerstrom-Billai, Karolinska Inst.: Introduction to the Bioinformatics and Expression Core Facility (BEA)
James Thompson, Karolinska Inst.: Grand Opening of the Karolinska High Throughput Center (KHTC)

Session 4: Cancer genomics
Olli Kallioniemi, FIMM, Finland: Canceromics
Rene Bernards, Netherlands Cancer Inst., The Netherlands: Finding mechanisms and biomarkers of drug resistance in cancer

Session 5: Systems and synthetic biology
Jussi Taipale, Karolinska Inst., Sweden: Systems biology of cancer
Sanjay Vashee, J. Craig Venter Institute, USA: Creating a synthetic cell

Session 6: Functional genomics
Mikael Björklund, U. Dundee, UK: Cell growth in Drosophila—a systems biology perspective
Brenda Andrews, U. Toronto, Canada: Deciphering cellular networks and pathways in budding yeast
Thijn Brummelkamp, Whitehead Inst., USA: Haploid genetic screens in human cells: identification of disease-relevant genes through large-scale gene disruption

Session 7: Functional genomics/Transcription 2
Michael Boutros, DKFZ, Germany: Systematic approaches to dissect signaling networks
Alexander Stark, IMP, Austria: ChIP-Seq in six Drosophila species reveals a highly similar binding landscape for the developmental transcription factor Twist
Henk Stunnenberg, NCMLS, The Netherlands: A systems biology approach to uncover global transcription factor networks

Assessment of the results & impact of the event on the future direction of the field

The international HTB conferences have now been held twice and have attracted globally recognised speakers and large senior audiences. Speakers and delegates alike are looking forward to the next meeting in 2012. Although in the conference is in its infancy the HTB conferences held so far have attracted speakers and delegates from all over the world, particularly from Europe. Local HTB2010 delegates came equally from Karolinka Institutet, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm University and The Royal Technical College. The first two conferences have had just under 40 outstanding scientists and leaders in their HT fields participating and giving presentations. This works in two ways – local researchers have an opportunity to listen and talk to the most prominent scientists of the field and the visiting speakers and delegates can see what is going on in high throughput biology, in Sweden. The KHTC is continually looking to develop its contact network in academia and industry both within Sweden and internationally in order to expand the services provided and to broaden technical expertise, the HTB2010 conference promoted beyond expectation high throughput biology in Stockholm, Sweden, Europe and beyond.

Programme

Thursday, 16th September 2010

8:30-9:00 Registration and coffee/exhibition

Session 1: Transcription 1

9:00-9:10 Jussi Taipale, Karolinska Inst., Sweden
Opening of conference and welcome
9:10-9:55 Timothy Hughes, U. Toronto, Canada
Mapping the protein-nucleic acid interactome
9:55-10:40 Sarah Teichmann, MRC, UK
Genomic analysis of transcriptional regulation in mammals
10:40- 10:55 Coffee break/exhibition
10:55-11:40 Mitchell Lazar, U. Pennsylvania, USA
Epigenomic regulation of metabolism by nuclear receptors
11:40-12:10 Miles Rackliff, Agilent Automated Solutions
Application, Application, Application…
12:10-13:10 Lunch break/exhibition

Session 2: Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology

13:10-13:57 Frederic de Sauvage, Genentech, USA
Development of hedgehog pathway inhibitors: from bench to clinic
13:55-14:40 Thomas Helleday, Stockholm Univ., Sweden
Homologous recombination: from basic mechanisms to cancer treatments
14:40-15:25 Lawrence Lum, U. Texas Southwestern, USA
Wnt signaling: a chemical genomics-based perspective
15:25-15:40 Coffee break/exhibition

Session 3: Proteomics

15:40-16:25 Mathias Uhlén, KTH, Sweden
The Human Proteome Project - annotation of the protein encoded genes of the human genome
16:25-17:10 Patrick Lemaire, U. Marseilles, France
From genome sequence to the control of cell shapes and morphogenesis in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis
17:10-17:30 Coffee break/exhibition

Grand Opening of the Karolinska High Throughput Center

17:30-17:40 Jussi Taipale, Karolinska High Throughput Center (KHTC)
Welcome address
17:40-17:45 Fredrik Fagerstrom-Billai, Karolinska Inst.
Introduction to the Bioinformatics and Expression Core Facility (BEA)
17:45-17:50 James Thompson, Karolinska Inst.
Grand Opening of the Karolinska High Throughput Center (KHTC)
17:50-19:30 KHTC and BEA visits, poster session, exhibition and get-together

Friday, 17th September 2010

8:30-9:00 Registration and coffee/exhibition

Session 4: Cancer genomics

9:00-9:45 Olli Kallioniemi, FIMM, Finland
Canceromics
9:45-10:30 Rene Bernards, Netherlands Cancer Inst., The Netherlands
Finding mechanisms and biomarkers of drug resistance in cancer
10:30-10:45 Coffee break/exhibition

Session 5: Systems and synthetic biology

10:45-11:30 Jussi Taipale, Karolinska Inst., Sweden
Systems biology of cancer
11:30-12:15 Sanjay Vashee, J. Craig Venter Institute, USA
Creating a synthetic cell
12:15-13:15 Lunch break/exhibition

Session 6: Functional genomics

13:15-14:00 Mikael Björklund, U. Dundee, UK
Cell growth in Drosophila—a systems biology perspective
14:00-14:45 Brenda Andrews, U. Toronto, Canada
Deciphering cellular networks and pathways in budding yeast
14:45-15:30 Thijn Brummelkamp, Whitehead Inst., USA
Haploid genetic screens in human cells: identification of disease-relevant genes through large-scale gene disruption
15:30-15:45 Coffee break/exhibition

Session 7: Functional genomics/Transcription 2

15:45-16:30 Michael Boutros, DKFZ, Germany
Systematic approaches to dissect signaling networks
16:30-17:15 Alexander Stark, IMP, Austria
ChIP-Seq in six Drosophila species reveals a highly similar binding landscape for the developmental transcription factor Twist
17:15-18:00 Henk Stunnenberg, NCMLS, The Netherlands
A systems biology approach to uncover global transcription factor networks