LS² Annual Meeting 2025

Single-cell genomics techniques have allowed for the deep profiling of individual cells in multicellular contexts. These new technologies have enabled the building of cell atlases where hundreds of different cell types are categorized according to their transcriptional and epigenetic states. These analyses have led to the depiction of detailed cell transcriptional landscapes that could be interpreted in terms of cell identity. Nonetheless, transcription represents only one axis in the establishment of cell phenotypes and functions and post-transcriptional events crucially concur to cell identity in ways that cannot be simply derived from transcriptional profiles. Thus, the chemical composition of individual cells and the activity of metabolic pathways are likely as good descriptors of cell identity as transcriptional profiles are. Moreover, accumulating findings assign to lipid metabolism an instructive role towards the establishment of cell identity, yet our understanding of the integration of transcriptional and lipid metabolic programs in cell fate determination remains superficial. Here I will report on our attempts to investigate lipidomes at single cell levels and at high spatial resolution by MALDI imaging mass spectrometry.

Communication is the milestone of every successful interaction, yet the power of listening is often underestimated. Active listening goes beyond hearing words; it involves understanding emotions, perspectives, and underlying needs. This immersive workshop aims to delve into the principles of effective communication and cultivate the art of empathetic listening. Participants will explore the meaning and significance of effective communication, identify its key principles, and share their insights and ideas. Through interactive discussions and activities, attendees will unlock deeper connections and meaningful relationships, gaining a thorough understanding of what makes communication truly effective and how to apply these principles in various contexts.

Autophagy is an intracellular lysosomal bulk degradation pathway that ensures cellular homeostasis by the removal of damaged and dangerous material from the cytoplasm. This is achieved by the sequestration of the cytoplasmic cargo material within double membraned organelles called autophagosomes. The selective sequestration of only specific cargo material is mediated by cargo receptors that link the cargo to the nascent autophagosomal membrane. How cargo selection, membrane nucleation and growth are coupled is unclear. I will present our recent work on the cargo receptors and the autophagy machinery derived from in vitro reconstitution systems and cell biology. In particular, I will discuss how cargo receptors and the autophagy machinery act sequentially during cargo recognition, membrane nucleation and elongation to mediate the specific sequestration and subsequent degradation of cellular material. 

Cancer is a disease of malfunctioning proteins and the pathways they operate in. Many oncogenic signalling events are not discernible from genomic or transcriptomic data because they are strongly regulated by protein phosphorylation.
In this keynote lecture, I will present how we apply proteomics and phosphoproteomics to the analysis of cancer patients in a molecular tumor board setting. Discussed aspects are how we can turn around data from biopsy to tumor board meeting within one week, what the proteome does and does not tell us and what needs to happen next in order to roll this out to broader patient populations.

Our research explores the idiosyncrasies of adult organs: how they differ between the sexes and are remodelled by their environment. Our work in Drosophila uncovered a gut-gonad axis that differs between the sexes and impacts food intake, gamete production and tumour susceptibility. Investigating how the intestine senses and responds to nutrients, we also discovered an intestinal zinc sensor that promotes Tor signalling to sustain food intake and developmental growth. More recently, we have investigated the sex and reproductive plasticity of the mammalian intestine in both mice and humans. We have also become very interested in the idea that the shape and position of the intestine constrain or enable its functions, and we have developed new methods to describe and interrogate these new dimensions to organ function. I will likely present some of this work.