The EMBO Meeting 2012

London Research Institute

Saturday, 22 September, 17:45-18:30

Controlling the Cell Cycle

Both S-phase and mitosis are common to all cell cycles and both are necessary for the two newly divided cells to receive a full complement of genes.  In fission yeast the onset of S-phase and mitosis can be controlled by a single cyclin dependent kinase with different levels of CDK activity bringing about progression through the cell cycle in an orderly fashion.  A low CDK activity is sufficient to bring about S-phase whilst a high activity blocks a further S-phase and is needed for onset of mitosis.  A G2 cell can be programmed to undergo either S-phase or mitosis simply by modifying CDK activity indicating there is no inherent direction in the cell cycle.  Activation of CDK activity is determined by growth rate and cell size, with cell size determined in part by a gradient mechanism.  A genomic wide screen for small sized mutants has indentified new genes which act in previously unidentified pathways to regulate CDK activity at mitotic onset.

Biography

Paul Nurse is a geneticist and cell biologist who has worked on how the eukaryotic cell cycle is controlled and how cell shape and cell dimensions are determined.  His major work has been on the cyclin dependent protein kinases and how they regulate cell reproduction.  He is President of the Royal Society and Director of the Francis Crick Institute in London and has served as Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK and President of Rockefeller University.  He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and has received the Albert Lasker Award and the Royal Society's Royal and Copley Medals.  He was knighted in 1999 and received the Legion d'honneur in 2003.

Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing

Monday, 24 September, 09:00-9:45

Nutrient-sensing pathways and ageing

Research into ageing has been rejuvenated by the discovery that mutations
in single genes can increase healthy lifespan in laboratory model
organisms. The nutrient-sensing insulin/insulin-like growth factor/TOR
signalling network has thus been found to have a role in ageing that is
conserved from yeast to mammals, possibly including humans. Extension of
lifespan is accompanied by an increase in health and function at later
ages, and manipulation of this signalling network can also reduce the
pathology associated with genetic models of human ageing-related diseases.
This talk will discuss the mechanisms at work and their potential
relevance to humans.

Biography

Professor Linda Partridge works on the biology of ageing. Her research is directed to understanding both how the rate of ageing evolves in nature and the mechanisms by which healthy lifespan can be extended in laboratory model organisms. Her work has focussed in particular on the role of nutrient- sensing pathways, such as the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway, and on dietary restriction. Her current work is directed to developing pharmacological treatments that ameliorate the human ageing process to produce a broad-spectrum improvement in health during ageing.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, including giving the Royal Society Croonian Lecture in 2009 and a DBE for services to science. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the Director of the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing, as well as founding director of the new Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne.

Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry

Louis-Jeantet Prize Lectures
Monday, 24 September, 09:45-10:45

Abstract & Title - to follow soon

Biography

Matthias Mann studied physics and mathematics at Gottingen University and obtained his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Yale University. Here he was decisively involved in the development of electrospray ionization, which has become a key technology of the life sciences. As a post-doctoral fellow and later as a professor for bioinformatics at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, he developed, amongst others techniques, the first bioinformatic search algorithms for peptide fragmentation data and SILAC a new method of quantitative proteomics and a breakthrough in the mapping of protein interactions. Since 2005 Matthias Mann is director at the Max-Planck institute of biochemistry and since 2009 also the department head of proteomics at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for protein research in Copenhagen.

Dr. Mann has authored and co-authored more than 460 publications with a total citation count of more than 70,000, making him one of the most highly cited researchers worldwide according to the Institute for Scientific Information. He has been elected member of EMBO as well as the Royal Danish Academy of Arts and Sciences and also to a visiting professorship at Harvard Medical School. He has received two honorary degrees from Utrecht University and the University of Dundee, respectively.

Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford

Louis-Jeantet Prize Lectures
Monday, 24 September, 09:45-10:45

Abstract & Title - to follow soon

Biography - to follow soon