*Registraion has closed early due to hotel availability. We still have 'Day Pass' registration options available which exclude accommodation - if of interest, please enquire with Chloe for further details*

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

Alberto Ciccia (Columbia University)
REPLICATION FORK REMODELING AND ANTI-TUMOR IMMUNITY
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
Julien Prudent (MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit)
GOLGI-DERIVED VESICLES AND PHOSPHOINOSITIDES ORCHESTRATE MITOCHONDRIAL MORPHOLOGY
Angelika Rambold (University of Münster)
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
John Tainer (MD Anderson Cancer Center)
AIF ALLOSTERIC CONTROL OF THE AIF-CHCHD4 COMPLEX TUNES THE MITOCHONDRIAL PROTEOME TO NAD(H) LEVELS
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)
ORGANELLE STRESS IN AUTOIMMUNE T CELLS

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.