Compartmentalisation & Confinement in Biological Systems

21-22 September 2015
Cripps Court, Magdalene College, Cambridge University
Workshop Chair: Stephen Evans, Peter Adams and Paul Beales, University of Leeds

Cripps Court, Magdalene College, Cambridge University

This meeting is the seventh of a series of focussed workshops which will consider several themes of the EPSRC NetworkPlus in ‘Understanding the Physics of Life’, which have developed through intensive discussion of participants during the network’s earlier plenary conference events.

Here we will focus on specific challenges at the interface between physics, biology and chemistry relating to understanding the role that confinement and compartmentalisation plays within biological cells. The majority of cells, from mammalian to bacterial, are optimized to segregate certain functions into different subcellular regions. Physical, spatial, kinetic and thermodynamic barriers can facilitate effective segregation of incompatible molecular constituents and their functions whilst maintaining the necessary molecular communication and transport between compartments. Challenges to be addressed include: the importance of organelles and other subcellular compartments in maintaining cellular function, trafficking of vesicles and other cargos between compartments, molecular signalling and hierarchical effects, in vitro models (minimal cells, cell-free biophysics), 2-D intramembrane confinement, and the influence of confinement/ crowding on chemical reactions.

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Purpose

Our focussed workshop will provide a mechanism to nucleate new collaborative partnerships that will lead to outstanding science and the award of grants by research councils. Discussion sessions will be a very important element of the event, and it is hoped that all attendees will come ready to engage fully in that element of the programme. Our aim by the close of the meeting is to have seeded potential new collaborations and novel lines of cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in this area.

Who should attend?

We invite participation by academics (including early- and mid-career research fellows), clinical researchers and industrial scientists in the UK who are interested in the central goal of generating new collaborative research interactions at the physical/life sciences interface focussed on challenging questions pertaining to compartmentalisation and confinement. The main business of these meetings will be to provide opportunities for researchers to talk and interact through, for example, brief flash presentations, speed-dating exercises, poster presentations, facilitated discussions and other activities.

Confirmed speakers and their talk titles

Prof Jilong Liu, University of Oxford
‘The cytoophidium and its kinds: Filamentation and compartmentation of metabolic enzymes’
Prof Fiona Meldrum, University of Leeds
‘Crystallisation in Confinement: A Biological Perspective’
Prof Vincent Noireux, University of Minnesota
‘Cell-free transcription-translation: from gene circuits to minimal cell’
Dr Pierre Sens, CNRS – Institut Curie, Paris
‘Non-equilibrium clustering in cellular membranes’
Prof Antonella Viola, University of Padua, Italy
‘Signalling compartmentalisation at the immunological synapse’

Programme

Day 1

12.30	Registration and Lunch
13.25	Introduction – Stephen Evans
13.30	TALK 1: ‘Cell-free transcription-translation: from gene circuits to minimal cell’ Prof Vincent Noireux, University of Minnesota
14.15	TALK 2: ‘Signalling compartmentalisation at the immunological synapse’ Prof Antonella Viola, University of Padua, Italy
15.00	Coffee break
15.20	Discussion sessions – important issues in ‘Compartmentalisation and Confinement’
16.10	Discussions report back
16.30	Flash presentations – approx. 10 presenters
17.00	Presenters put up A3 sheet highlighting their area/issues/capabilities/questions/problems ready for discussion
17.30	Flash presentations – approx. 10 presenters
18.00	Presenters put up A3 sheet highlighting their area/issues/capabilities/questions/problems ready for discussion
18.30	Dinner
20.00	TALK 3: ‘Crystallisation in Confinement: A Biological Perspective’’ Prof Fiona Meldrum, University of Leeds
20.45	Cash bar available to guests

Day 2

9.00	TALK 4: ‘Non-equilibrium clustering in cellular membranes’ Dr Pierre Sens, CNRS-ESPCI, Paris
9.45	Flash presentations – approx. 10 presenters
10.15	Presenters put up A3 sheet highlighting their area/issues/capabilities/questions/problems ready for discussion
10.45	Coffee Break
10.55	Discussion sessions – funding focuses and challenges
11.45	Discussions report back
12.00	TALK 5: ‘The cytoophidium and its kinds: Filamentation and compartmentation of metabolic enzymes’ Prof Ji-long Liu, University of Oxford
12.45	Final thoughts
12.50	Lunch

Registration

This workshop is heavily subsidised by the Network, and the full registration fee of only £95 includes lunch on both days and dinner, bed and breakfast for the night of September 21. Registration for this event has now closed.

The conference is due to start at 12.30pm on 21 September, and close after lunch on 22 September between 13:30-14:00pm.
If you have any further questions about this event, please do not hesitate to contact Christina Metcalfe, Network Coordinator at: c.metcalfe@sheffield.ac.uk

Directions

Please see map for full directions on accessing Cripps Court (Magdalene College).

Cripps Court (Magdalene College)
1-3 Chesterton Road
Cambridge
CB4 3AD