Joint symposium with the ITN Cell2Cell - a great success
From April 10 to April 12, the symposium "Dynamics in chromatin organization and RNA regulation: adaptation, infection - and beyond" brought about 130 local and international scientists to the JLU main building. The talks covered very diverse aspects of gene expression, ranging from genome architecture and RNA modifications to new methods for single cell analyses; this interdisciplinary character was generally regarded as very inspiring. In addition to keynote speakers Susan Gasser from the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research in Lausanne, Schraga Schwartz from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, and Bas van Steensel from the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, several other international speakers and many members of the two graduate programmes presented their work.
The symposium was a joint venture of the RTG 2355 and the EU-funded Marie Curie Innovative Training Network "Cell2Cell - role of cellular heterogeneity in chromatin structures in pathogen infections". "Both projects highlight JLU’s outstanding interdisciplinary and collaborative research in the area of RNA analysis and gene expression and bridge the two research fields chromatin organisation and RNA regulation, which are often explored separately", Prof. Dr. Martin Kramer, JLU Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, said in his welcoming speech. "This interdisciplinary character promotes exchange and the formation of new collaborations, even internationally", said Cell2Cell-speaker Sigurd Braun. "Furthermore, such a symposium strengthen existing synergies within our faculty", Katja Sträßer, speaker of the RTG 2355, added. "I am very happy about the broad participation of local researchers, especially of doctoral candidates and postdocs."