Program
Download the program here:
| Tuesday | 11.02.202512:00 – 19:00 |
| 12:00 – 12:30 | Registration & Coffee - Young Scientists' Satellite |
| 12:30 – 12:35 | Welcome Address |
| 12:35 – 12:40 | Introduction from YSSM Chairs |
| 12:40 – 13:15 | Keynote Lecture YSS The Lipotype Hypothesis Read More 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. |
| 13:15 – 14:00 | Scientific Symposium I Selected speakers from abstracts Yara Ahmed (University of Fribourg) |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Coffee Break |
| 14:30 – 15:15 | Scientific Symposium II Selected speakers from abstracts Darko Stojkov (University of Bern) |
| 15:15 – 15:45 | Coffee Break |
| 15:45 – 15:55 | Presentation from Fribourg Development Agency "The Life Science Ecosystem of Western Switzerland" |
| 15:55 – 17:45 | Career Workshop "Mastering connections: the power of listening and communicating effectively" Read More 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. |
| 17:45 – 17:50 | Closing Remarks & Acknowledgements |
| 18:00 – 19:00 | YSS Apero |
| Wednesday | 12.02.202508:00 – 19:15 |
| 08:00 – 09:00 | Registration & Welcome Coffee |
| 09:00 – 09:10 | Welcome Address |
| 09:10 – 09:45 | The EMBO Keynote Lecture - Keynote I Mechanisms of selective autophagy Read More 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. |
| 09:45 – 10:15 | Lelio Orci Award Mechanisms of Intracellular Compartmentalization Read More Cells need to communicate and interact with the environment. These interactions need to be facilitated through intracellular communication pathways, which comprises biosynthetic and endocytic transport and signaling pathways. In recent years it became clear that besides the classical pathways, organellar contact sites and membrane-less organelles are likewise important players of intracellular communication. Moreover, technological advances allowed a more precise dissection of vesicular transport. We are interested in understanding how different cellular – membrane-bounded and membrane-less – organelles interact with each other, how signals are relayed and how mRNAs and proteins are localized correctly in space and time, and how cells adapt their intracellular communication during perturbations such as stress or ageing. We use different experimental models such as S. cerevisiae, C. elegans and mammalian cells to gain understanding on single cells as well as on tissue and whole organism levels. The endosomal system is a particular interesting system to study intracellular communication as signals from the plasma membrane converge with biosynthetic route and the information has to be processed correctly. Moreover, the connections between organelles of the biosynthetic route with more metabolic organelles continuous to provide new insights in intracellular communication. There is still so much to learn – it is a really exciting time. I will discuss our latest findings on intracellular communication. |
| 10:15 – 10:45 | Coffee Break & Industry Exhibition |
| 10:45 – 12:35 | Special Plenary Session: PIs of Tomorrow Finalists: Tetiana Serdiuk (ETHZ) |
| 12:35 – 14:25 | Lunch Break / Industry Exhibition / Poster Viewing Catering for industry representatives will be open from 12:15 |
| 13:15 – 14:45 | Feedback Session PIs of Tomorrow (only for jury, chairs and finalists) |
| 14:25 – 16:10 | PARALLEL SYMPOSIA SESSION I |
Cellular oxygen sensing in the post-Nobel era
Industry speakers Krista Rantanen (The Baker Company)
Selected speakers from abstracts Marion Dübi (University Hospital Lausanne) | |
Imaging-based Spatial Omics Important update: The talk of the invited speaker Gioele la Manno will be given by Antonio Herrera Camacho. Industry speaker Sara Milosevic (10X Genomics) "Experience the power of the Xenium platform"
Selected speakers from abstracts Cristina Tocchini (University of Basel) | |
Mechanisms of selective autophagy in health and disease
Selected speakers from abstracts Lisa Gambarotto (University of Lausanne) | |
| 16:10 – 16:40 | Coffee Break - Meet the speakers |
| 16:40 – 17:15 | Keynote II Adding a proteomic component to molecular tumor boards Read More 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. |
| 17:15 – 19:15 | Apero, Poster Session I & Industry Exhibition |
| Thursday | 13.02.202508:15 – 17:15 |
| 08:15 – 09:00 | Registration & Welcome Coffee |
| 09:00 – 09:05 | Welcome Address |
| 09:05 – 09:40 | Keynote III On sex and form Read More 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. |
| 09:40 – 10:20 | Coffee Break, Industry Exhibition & Poster Viewing |
| 10:20 – 12:05 | PARALLEL SYMPOSIA SESSION II |
Seeing the Complexity of Life: Advances in Structural Cell Biology
Selected speakers from abstracts Leonie Anton (University of Bern) | |
Evolutionary Cell Biology-cell function and structure through an evolutionary lens
Selected speakers from abstracts Crisalida Borges (University of Geneva) | |
Half-symposium - Personalized and systems pharmacology
Selected speakers from abstracts Paolo Armando Gagliardi (University of Torino, Italy) | |
Half-symposium - Strategies at the forefront of 3Rs to Replace, Reduce, and Refine animal experiments
Selected speakers from abstracts Lisa Conrad (University of Bern) | |
| 12:05 – 13:05 | Lunch Break & Industry Exhibition Catering for industry representatives will be open from 11:35 |
| 13:05 – 14:05 | Poster Session II |
| 14:05 – 15:50 | PARALLEL SYMPOSIA SESSION III |
Spatial proteomics: giving up on a bulk
Industry speaker
Selected speakers from abstracts Melanie Brunner (University of Fribourg) | |
The Complexity of GPCR networks Important update: Vladimir Katanaev will present instead of Evi Kostenis Vladimir Katanaev "The Frizzled family of GPCRs: signaling mechanisms and targeting" Selected speakers from abstracts Sofia Papadogkonaki (University of Geneva) | |
Sensing and responding to the environment: An integrative systems biology approach
Selected speakers from abstracts Elliott Bernard (University of Lausanne) | |
| 15:50 – 16:10 | Coffee Break - Meet the speakers |
| 16:10 – 16:40 | Friedrich Miescher Award |
Epigenetics of Sex Differences Males and females of the same species often exhibit marked differences, extending beyond reproductive characteristics to encompass variations in size, appearance, and behavior. A striking example is seen in mosquitoes, where only females need a blood meal to produce eggs and, consequently, can transmit the malaria-causing parasite. Such “sexual dimorphism” is also evident in humans and can even influence the occurrence, severity, and treatment of diseases.While sex chromosomes often underlie these differences, the regulation of gene expression from sex chromosomes has primarily been studied in a few model organisms, overlooking the vast diversity of sex chromosome evolution and regulation. Even among well-studied mammalian species, it is increasingly clear that substantial differences exist, such as in the extent of X chromosome inactivation.Our research aims to uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for sex differences. This knowledge will not only provide fundamental new insights into gene regulation, dosage-sensitivity and their evolution but will also unravel the impact of sex differences on human health. | |
Type 2 immunity may hold key to long-term cancer remission Our immune system interacts with many diseases in a multidimensional manner involving substantial biological, chemical, and physical exchanges. Manipulating the disease-immunity interactions may afford novel immunotherapies to better treat diseases such as cancer. My lab aims to develop novel strategies to engineer the multidimensional immunity-disease interactions (or termed ‘immunoengineering’) to create safe and effective therapies against cancer. We leverage the power of metabolic and cellular bioengineering, synthetic chemistry and material engineering, and mechanical engineering to achieve controllable modulation of immune responses. In this talk, I will share our recent discovery of IL-10 and IL-4 as metabolic reprogramming agents that reinvigorate the terminally exhausted CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. This strategy has been extended to develop metabolically armored CAR-T cells with IL-10 secretion to counter exhaustion-associated dysfunction in the tumor microenvironment for enhanced anticancer immunity. This new CAR-T cell therapy has shown promise in several on-going IIT clinical trials (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05715606, NCT05747157, NCT06120166) in the treatment of refractory/relapsed CD19+ B cell leukemia and lymphoma. | |
| 16:40 – 17:10 | Award Ceremony |
| 17:10 – 17:15 | Closing Remarks & Acknowledgements |