Keynote Speakers
Prof. Sascha Martens
Prof. Sascha Martens (University of Vienna, Vienna BioCenter (VBC), AT) - 12 February 2025 09:10 – 09:45 (CET)
Title of the talk: Mechanisms of selective autophagy
Abstract: 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.
Prof. Irene Miguel-Aliaga
Prof. Irene Miguel-Aliaga (Francis Crick Institute, UK) - 13 February 2025 09:05 – 09:40 (CET)
Title of the talk: On sex and form
Abstract: 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.
Prof. Bernhard Küster
Prof. Bernhard Küster (Technical University of Munich, DE) - 12 February 2025 16:40 – 17:15 (CET)
Title of the talk: Adding a proteomic component to molecular tumor boards
Abstract: 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.