CUSO Biology Symposium I: 'Advances in Epigenetics and Epigenomics'

27-29 June 2022

Corinne Dentan, UNIL

Prof. Daniel Zilberman, ISTA, Austria

Prof. Troy Day, Queen's University, Canada

Prof. Josep Casadesús, University of Sevilla, Spain

Prof. Frank Johannes, TUM, Germany

Dr. Axel Visel, University of California Merced, USA

Prof. Vincent Colot, CNRS, France

Prof. Albert Jeltsch, University of Stuttgart, Germany

Dr. Luca Giorgetti, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel

The CUSO Biology Symposium 2022 will bring together internationally leading experts in epigenetics and epigenomics to discuss cutting-edge advances and recent trends in this fascinating field. The area of epigenetics – the study of developmental and phenotypic changes that do not involve DNA sequence changes – touches upon many fundamental aspects of biology and is therefore of great interest to a large audience of biologists: development and cellular biology; gene regulation; chromatin biology; phenotypic plasticity; non-genetic inheritance; and evolutionary adaptation.
Fundamental questions that will be discussed at the meeting include for example:

• How can the same genome give raise to different cell types?
• How do epigenetic mechanisms lead to changes in chromatin structure and gene expression?
• How are environmental changes translated into epigenetic changes?
• How does epigenetics impact phenotypes and disease states?
• To what extent is epigenetic variation controlled genetically?
• How heritable and stable are epigenetic marks over time?
• What is the role of epigenetic inheritance in evolution and adaptation?

The symposium is open to PhD students from all four CUSO doctoral programs inbiology (i.e., Staromics, Plant Molecular Biology, Microbiology, and Ecology and Evolution).The symposium will consist of lectures by the invited experts as well as discussions with the students in smaller groups (journal club format).

Please note that registration to the two parts of the Symposium has to be done separately:

For the first part: CUSO Biology Symposium 2022 I 'Epigenomics'

For the second part: CUSO Biology Symposium 2022 II: 'Bioinformatics' (SIB)

Proposed schedule (TBC)

 Monday June 27, 2022

 13:45-14:00 Welcome

 14:00-15:00 Troy Day:"The role of natural selection and epigenetics in adaptation"

 15:00-16:00 Albert Jeltsch:"Setting of DNA methylation patterns"

 16:00 Coffee break

 16:30-18:30 Journal Club sessions 1-2

 19:00 Dinner

 20:30-21:30 Students' flash talks

 Tuesday June 28, 2022

 09:00-10:00 Daniel Zilberman:"Inheritance and function of DNA methylation within chromatin"

 10:00 Coffee break

 10:30-11:30 Luca Giorgetti:"Towards a quantitative understanding of long-range transcriptional regulation"Distant-Acting Enhancers in Development, Disease, and Evolution"

 11:30-12:30 Vincent Colot:"Plant transposable elements and their epigenetic control: engines of rapid adaptation?"

 12:30 Lunch

 13:30-17:00 Free time (hiking and other activities)

 17:00-19:00 Journal Club sessions 3-5

 19:00 Dinner

 Wednesday June 29, 2022

 09:00-10:00 Axel Visel :"Distant-Acting Enhancers in Development, Disease, and Evolution"

 10:00 Coffee break

 10:30-12:30 Journal Club sessions 6-8

 12:30 Lunch

 14:00-15:00 Josep Casadesus:"Phenotypic heterogeneity in bacterial populations"

 15:00-16:00 Frank Johannes:"Spontaneous epimutations in plants"

 End of the meeting

Caux Palace, Caux (Vaud)

Map

Reimbursements

Reimbursements for CUSO EE Students:

- Train ticket, 2nd class, half-fare from the main train station of your university location to the place of the activity.

- NO reimbursement for your meal expenses.

NEW since 2021: Reimbursement of your travel tickets can be asked online through your MyCUSO account.See HERE for the procedure.

For any question regarding reimbursements please contact the CUSO EE coordinator Catherine Suarez at: ecologie-evolution(at) cuso(dot)ch.

Fees

For CUSO PhD candidates: a participation of 30.- CHF. Bank details will be sent in the confirmation e-mail.

For CUSO postdocs: 180.- CHF

In case of cancellation, before the deadline (03.06): free
Late cancellation (03.06) or 'no-show': 50 CHF administrative fee

Deadline for registration: 10.06.2022

- 10 places available for CUSO EE students

Fees:

Participants will be asked a registration fee (CHF 30.- for PhD candidates and CHF 180.- for postdocs). Bank details will be sent in the confirmation e-mail.

Cancellation:
In case of cancellation, before the deadline (03.06): free
Late cancellation (after 03.06) or 'no-show': 50 CHF administrative fee

40