Stress responses require proper communication and orchestration between organelles critical for key decisions in cell survival and death, and crosstalk between networks is required to properly join stress responses with metabolic pathways compartmentalized within distinct organelles. Dysregulated organelle networks are increasingly implicated in cell and tissue dysfunction governing disease mechanisms, including inflammation. For example, the inability of nuclear DNA repair proteins to localize to and act on mitochondrial DNA elicits the release of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that trigger inflammatory signalling cascades. Similarly, lysosomal dysfunction can perturb mitochondrial activity, leading to metabolic impairment and DAMP-induced inflammation. This interdisciplinary meeting will bring together experts working on genome instability, organelle biology and immunity to advance understanding of organelle stress communication mechanisms in homeostatic and pathological settings including cancer, metabolic and neurologic diseases, and aging. 

Key Sessions

Interactive talks and panel discussions will cover the following topics: 

•    Mitochondria-Nuclear Crosstalk in DNA Damage Responses
•    Mitochondria-ER-Lysosome Crosstalk and Quality Control
•    DNA Damage Responses and Inflammation
•    Organelles in Innate Immune Signalling
•    Organelle Communication in Metabolic and Inflammatory Diseases 
•    Organelle Communication in Neurodegeneration and Aging
•    Organelle Communication in Cancer

Confirmed Keynote Speaker

Zhijian "James" Chen (UT Southwestern)
cGAS-STING SIGNALING IN LYSOSOME HOMEOSTASIS AND INFLAMMAGING

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Gloria Echeverria (Baylor College of Medicine)
MITOCHONDRIAL RETROGRADE SIGNALING SUPPORTS TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER THERAPY RESISTANCE
Boyi Gan (MD Anderson Cancer Center)
MITOCHONDRIAL REDOX CONTROL AND FERROPTOSIS
Vera Gorbunova (University of Rochester)
EPIGENOME STABILITY AND LONGEVITY
Roger Greenberg (University of Pennsylvania)
PATTERN RECOGNITION OF DNA DAMAGE
Gaorav Gupta (UNC School of Medicine)
Karl-Peter Hopfner (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
STRUCTURAL MECHANISM OF SLFN11, A MEMBER OF THE SCHLAFEN PROTEIN FAMILY
John Maciejowski (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
ER-DIRECTED TREX1 LIMITS cGAS ACTIVATION AT MICRONUCLEI
Jodi Nunnari (Altos Labs)
REGULATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL METABOLIC FLEXIBILITY
John Petrini (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
A LINK BETWEEN DNA REPLICATION FORK STABILITY AND INNATE IMMUNE SIGNALING
Julien Prudent (MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit)
GOLGI-DERIVED VESICLES AND PHOSPHOINOSITIDES ORCHESTRATE MITOCHONDRIAL MORPHOLOGY
Angelika Rambold (Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology & Epigenetics)
ORGANELLE COMMUNICATION - IN CONTROL OF IMMUNE CELL METABOLISM AND FUNCTION
Jeff Rathmell (Vanderbilt University Medical Center)
THE INFLAMMATORY MICROENVIRONMENT AND FEVER
Gerald Shadel (Salk Institute)
STRESSFUL CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN MITOCHONDRIA AND THE NUCLEUS
Aleksandra Trifunovic (University of Cologne)
THE ROLE OF MITOCHONDRIAL QUALITY CONTROL MECHANISMS IN THE REGULATION OF INFLAMMATION
Jessica Tyler (Weill Cornell Medicine)
LIFESPAN EXTENSION THROUGH IMPROVING DNA DOUBLE-STRAND BREAK REPAIR
Cornelia Weyand (Stanford University)
Antonio Zorzano (IRB Barcelona)

Target Audience

•    Molecular Biologists studying DNA damage stress responses in the context of inflammation and disease 
•    Cell biologists studying organelle dynamics in physiology and disease
•    Researchers interested in mitochondrial biology and mitochondria-mediated inflammation
•    Immunologists studying organelle control of innate immunity and inflammatory signalling
•    Clinicians and translational biologists interested in organelle-immune connections in neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and aging

Educational Need

Despite growing appreciation for inter-organelle communication in health and disease, there are few avenues for researchers to come together and develop a wholistic understanding of organelle crosstalk. By focusing on stress responses, the goal of this meeting is to stimulate the cross-fertilization of ideas between scientists working in diverse areas of genome stability, organelle biology, inflammation, and disease to nucleate new collaborations and shape research questions in this rapidly advancing field. Moreover, this meeting will be an exceptional opportunity for students, postdocs, and junior group leaders to meet leading researchers in various fields (i.e. genome stability, organelle dynamics, mitochondrial biology, innate immunity, cancer, metabolic disease, aging, etc), while building mentoring networks and receiving feedback on their ongoing work. 

Please note, the below programme is an initial draft and is subject to change in the months leading up to the conference. 

Please see below opportunities to help offset the cost of attending IOSCD25. 

We hope to release additional grants later following fundraising efforts. If you are interested in future opportunities, please check in with this page frequently for the most up-to-date information. Alternatively, sign-up for updates (using the bell icon above) to be notified should additional grants be released. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Conference Manager, Chloe Trundle.

€500 Registration Grants

We have 10 x €500 registration grants available to help defray the meeting costs for attendees. Anyone can apply, but priority will be given to those chosen to present, as well as students and postdocs. To apply, please email Chloe Trundle. 

Your application should include your name, organisation, career level, an abstract for consideration for a talk or poster, and a short summary answering the below questions (no more than 50-100 words per question).
 
•   What cutting edge aspects of your work will you share at the meeting?
•    Why do you require financial support to attend?
•    How will attending IOSCD25 benefit your research and career?

Please structure your application into one document (preferably .doc), starting with the above application criteria, followed by your abstract. 

Deadline for grant applications: 01 May 2025. Successful applicants will be informed shortly following the deadline. 

Note: we appreciate research may advance and new data may become available between the abstract deadline and the conference commencing. If you are chosen to present, and need to update your abstract later to reflect such changes, you are welcome to do so. Attendees can manage their submissions through their Fusion account. 

The hotel is approximately 20 minutes from Malta International Airport, the official airport of the Maltese Islands.

Taxis

Taxis are available outside the airport, however we would strongly recommend you use one of the transport app providers below.

There are 3 options for booking transport with an app- Uber, Bolt and eCabs. They all operate in and around Malta, and the fares are generally cheaper than a taxi. The cost of transfers between Malta International Airport and the city of St Julians generally ranges from €15 to €20.

Local activity details will be announced here soon. 

Group activity details will be announced here soon.