The first Fusion conference on ‘Recombination Mechanisms’ was held at the lovely Dolce CampoReal Hotel near Lisbon, continuing the tradition of this meeting which has now exceeded 50 years. Although the scientific problems have advanced during this time, as have the technologies used to pursue them, studies of recombination and its role in DNA repair, replication fork maintenance and meiosis are providing exciting new insights into these fundamental cellular processes. Rapid advances are being made in all aspects of the field and in particular with relation to the actions of tumour suppressors such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, and their roles in maintaining genome stability and cancer avoidance. Additionally, emerging technologies such as cryo-electron microscopy are now allowing structure-function studies that provide key insights into human disease.

Highlights of the meeting included four amazing Keynotes from Dana Branzei, Andre Nussenzweig, Scott Keeney and Neil Hunter, supported by 43 talks from leaders in the field as well as a smattering of junior trainees. An important aspect was the high-quality poster sessions that facilitated productive interactions between established scientists and junior researchers. All participants enjoyed the inclusivity and family-feel of the meeting, which was enabled by the remarkable Fusion conference team, and in particular Shannon the lead organiser. The meeting concluded with a gala dinner, dancing, and the traditional fully clothed jump into the swimming pool.

This conference series is now in good hands with Fusion, and we look forward to the next meeting in 2025.

- Steve West (Crick Institute)

All spaces for this conference have been filled and so we have had to close registration before the deadline. If you would like to be added to our wait list, please contact Shannon to be notified if a slot becomes available. 

Genetic recombination plays a fundamental role in all cells. In mitotic cells, recombination provides an error-free mechanism for the repair of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and promotes replication fork stability. In meiotic cells, it promotes the shuffling of genetic material and is important for genetic variation and evolution. Recombination takes place by interactions between homologous chromosomes or sister chromatids, and involves specialised enzymes that promote homologous pairing, DNA exchange and chromosome/chromatid separation. It is essential for the equal and accurate separation of DNA at cell division. 

The conference will provide the platform for researchers in the recombination and repair fields to present their new unpublished data that sheds novel insights into not only the mechanisms of DSB repair by recombination, but also the consequences of inaccurate repair leading to cancer. It is now clear that many inheritable cancers, including those linked to defects in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, are caused by defects in homologous recombination. Understanding the precise mechanisms of recombinational repair is therefore critical for the development of new drugs that can target these diseases and improve human health.

The conference will be multi-disciplinary, and include genetic, biochemical, structural, and genomic approaches to understand all aspects of recombination.

Key Sessions

• Mitotic recombination mechanisms
• Meiotic recombination mechanisms
• Proteins and structures
• Replication fork stability
• Inheritable cancers and therapies

Student Offer

Take advantage of this fantastic opportunity for students! A fully paying academic can bring one student for only €840. Unfortunately, Postdocs are not eligible. Both registration packages include; accommodation for the 10, 11, 12 July 2023 (on a shared basis for students) and a food and beverage package for the conference period. Once registered, please contact Shannon to obtain a special registration link for your student.

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Andres Aguilera (CABIMER)
ROLES OF HISTONE DEACETYLATION IN REPLICATION FORK PROTECTION AND SISTER CHROMATID RECOMBINATIONAL REPAIR IN HUMAN CELLS
Kara Bernstein (University of Pennsylvania)
RAD51 PARALOG FUNCTION IN BYPASSING REPLICATION-INDUCED DNA DAMAGE
Simon Boulton (Francis Crick Institute)
TARGETING ALTERNATIVE LENGTHENING OF TELOMERES
Dana Branzei (IFOM)
REGULATION OF RECOMBINATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE REPLISOME
Petr Cejka (IRB)
MECHANISM OF DNA END SENSING BY THE MRE11 COMPLEX: IMPLICATIONS FOR CRISPR-BASED GENOME EDITING AND TELOMERES
Alberto Ciccia (Columbia University)
SMARCAL1 IS A CANDIDATE THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR ALT-POSITIVE TUMORS
Titia de Lange (The Rockefeller University)
ATR REPRESSES TELOMERASE AT DSBs
Jim Haber (Brandeis University)
FREQUENT MUTATIONS ACCOMPANYING DOUBLE-STRAND BREAK REPAIR
Wolf-Dietrich Heyer (University of California, Davis)
Rad51 DETERMINES PATHWAY CHOICE IN POST-REPLICATION REPAIR
Ian Hickson (University of Copenhagen)
ROLES OF HR PROTEINS DURING DNA REPLICATION AND MITOSIS
Neil Hunter (University of California, Davis)
PROTECTING DOUBLE-HOLLIDAY JUNCTIONS TO ENABLE CROSSOVER-SPECIFIC RESOLUTION DURING MEIOSIS
Hiroshi Iwasaki (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Swi2, A MULTIFUNCTIONAL Rad51 ACVTIVATOR FOR GENE CONVERSION OF MATING-TYPE SWITCHING IN FISSION YEAST
Maria Jasin (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
BRCA2 AND THE MAINTENANCE OF GENOMIC INTEGRITY
Scott Keeney (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: HOW TO BUILD A MEIOTIC DNA-BREAKING MACHINE
Steve Kowalczykowski (University of California, Davis)
SEEING & FEELING DNA RECOMBINATION
Sarah Lambert (Institut Curie)
SUMO-DEPENDENT NUCLEAR POSITIONING IN RECOMBINATION-MEDIATED DNA REPLICATION FORK INTEGRITY
Gaëlle Legube (Univsersité Paul Sabatier)
CHROMOSOME AND CHROMATIN DYNAMICS AT DNA DOUBLE STRAND BREAKS
Bernard de Massy (Institute of Human Genetics)
CHROMOSONE ORGANIZATION FOR DNA DOUBLE-STRAND BREAK FORMATION DURING MEIOSIS
Joao Matos (University of Vienna)
AN UNEXPECTED ROLE FOR HOLLIDAY JUNCTIONS DURING MEIOSIS
Jo Morris (University of Birmingham)
BASIS OF SYNTHETIC LETHALITY BETWEEN POLYMERASE THETA AND BRCA-PROTEIN DEFICIENCY
Andre Nussenzweig (NIH)
NEURONAL GENOME STABILITY AND PLASTICITY
Tanya Paull (University of Texas at Austin)
ROLES FOR THE SENATAXIN HELICASE IN REGULATION OF RNA-DNA HYBRIDS, NON-CODING RNA, AND NUCLEOLAR PROTEIN AGGREGATES
John Petrini (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
INNATE IMMUNE SIGNALING AND GENOME SURVEILLANCE
Akira Shinohara (Osaka University)
Fignl1 AAA+ ATPase REMODELS Rad51 AND Dmc1 FILAMENTS IN MEIOTIC DNA REPLICATION AND RECOMBINATION
Evi Soutoglou (University of Sussex)
POL THETA-DEPENDENT COMPROMISED DNA REPAIR FIDELITY IN EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS
Stewart Shuman (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
DNA INTER-STRAND CROSSLINK REPAIR IN MYCOBACTERIA
Patrick Sung (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio)
MECHANISMS OF BRCA-DEPENDENT GENOME REPAIR PATHWAYS
Lorraine Symington (Columbia University)
Cas9 NICKASE REVEALS GENETIC REQUIREMENTS FOR REPLICATION-ASSOCIATED DOUBLE-STRAND BREAK REPAIR
Alessandro Vindigni (Washington University)
A RAD18-UBC13-PALB22 AXIS MEDIATES REPLICATION FORK RECOVERY IN BRCA1-DEFICIENT CANCERS
Xiaodong Zhang (Imperial College London)
STRUCTURES AND MECHANISMS OF RAD51 MODULATORS

Target Audience

This conference will appeal to PhD students, post-docs and group leaders working in the fields of recombination, meiosis, DNA repair and cancer. Academic and pharma researchers interested in DNA damage responses and cancer including their intersection with replication, transcription, epigenetics, cancer biology, and cancer drug discovery. The focus will be on the molecular mechanisms of homologous recombination and the interplay of damage responses and cancer biology.

Educational Need

This conference will bring together scientists working at the forefront of DNA recombination (both mitotic and meiotic), repair, replication, transcription, epigenetics, and cancer biology. Presentations will consider diverse cutting-edge methodologies and integrated approaches to investigate the fundamental mechanisms of recombination and repair, at the molecular, structural and cellular levels. The conference will showcase novel breakthrough advances and new developments in these areas. The inter-disciplinary nature of the conference will create strong synergies among participants and outstanding opportunities for exchanging information and developing new collaborations. The cross-disciplinary interactions will be invaluable in training young scientists to work in these and other emerging areas of science.

All spaces for this conference have been filled and so we have had to close registration before the deadline. If you would like to be added to our wait list, please contact Shannon to be notified if a slot becomes available.