Cell News 3/2013
32
MEETING REPORT
Metabolic processes have long been known for their essential role
in cell proliferation and patho-physiological processes such as
cancer or diabetes and almost everybody will remember the lec-
tures about the citrat cycle. Modern cell biological methods have
led to a sort of renaissance of the field with tremendous advances
in recent years of in cellulo observations of metabolic processes.
Of course the progress has not halted and in recent times more
and more data highlight the importance of metabolic processes
also in the establishment of viral infections. New studies pro-
vide evidence of sophisticated and surprising ways how viruses
conquer and manipulate the cellular metabolism and associated
pathways for their own benefit. Thus with this 12
th
workshop we
pay tribute to this emerging theme and have invited four renow-
ned non-virologists as keynote speakers each of them addressing
metabolic questions from a different cell biological and techno-
logical angle. With this selection we aim to provide an in depth
coverage of the topic from the point of view of cell biologists
and try to connect to the success of last years meeting where the
entity of the keynote lectures together was providing additional
comprehension beyond the already excellent quality of each indi-
vidual lecture. Our keynote lecturers this year are:
Nicolas (Nick) Ktistakis
is a professor at the Babraham Institute
in Cambridge University, UK. His research group focuses on the
molecular mechanisms how cells sense the nutrient state of their
environment and how this information is converted into trans-
mitted signals to provoke distinct cellular reactions e.g. via mTOR
regulated pathways. His particular interest is to study the role of
phospholipids in transport and sensing of amino acids and the
control of autophagic processes during cell proliferation/starva-
tion using in vivo imaging and biochemical methods. In his
lecture
“The role of a simple phosphoinositide lipid (PI3P) in the
regulation of autophagy and in activation of mTOR”
he will
provide us with the latest results from this exciting topic.
Jean-Ehrland Ricci
is an INSERM Lecturer at the Mediterranean
centre for Molecular Medicine (C3M) in Nice, France. With his
group he investigates the role of metabolic processes in apop-
tosis. While cancer cells are very diverse, they are sharing a few
commune features including escape from cell death (mainly
apoptosis) and a particular metabolism (the so-called Warburg
effect). Apoptosis is a major contributor to the outcome of pa-
tho-physiological processes but also an essential process to keep
uncontrolled proliferation at bay. The main subject of his group
is to understand the control of caspase-dependent and caspase-
independent cell death by glycolysis and how the metabolic ba-
lance controls oncogenesis. In his talk
„Metabolic control of cell
death: relation to cancer and anti-cancer immune response“
he
will present us how the modulation of cancer cell metabolism can
impact on the death of the tumor cell and how it can modulate
anticancer immune response.
Christoph Thiele
is a professor at the LIMES Institute at the Uni-
versity of Bonn, Germany. His group studies the metabolism of
lipids in cells. Different from protein studies the fate of indivi-
dual classes of lipids and their subcellular distribution is not well
studied, which is in part owed to a lack of cell biological tools.
Thanks to several new lipid labelling technologies developed in
his group he is in the unique position to address unresolved ques-
tions in this novel and exciting topic. He will present some of the
most recent developments in the field and his own group with his
talk entitled
"Lipid metabolism and neutral lipid storage"
.
Eric Chevet
is an INSERM scientific director at the University of
Bordeaux, France. Over the past 10 years he has been investiga-
ting the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress signaling and pro-
teostasis control in cancer development. More particularly, the
Chevet lab investigates the molecular mechanisms set in place
in cancer cells to control the homeostasis of the endoplasmic
reticulum and how these processes play a role in cancer cell se-
lection and adaptation. In addition he has established a medium
throughput compound screening platform adaptable to cellular
processes based on the Alphascreen technology. This platform has
identified valuable tools for his research. He will present his work
entitled
"Control of Endoplasmic Reticulum homeostasis in can-
cer"
and give us an overview over this important field of research.
In summary this workshop will undoubtedly be again a great
success and we invite researchers of the Cell biology and Virolo-
gy fields at all levels of their career to join us in Deidesheim and
to listen to and provide fascinating contributions and to engage
in lively discussions and to build up collaborations over a good
glass of Riesling.
Details for the workshop can be obtained at the website of the
workshop (~ mid-Sept.), at the website of the GfV or by directly
contacting the organizers.
on=DETAILS&id=248
PD Dr. Susanne M. Bailer
Institut für Grenzflächenverfahrenstechnik und Plasmatechno-
logie IGVP der Universität Stuttgart
Gruppenleiterin Infektionsbiologie und Array-Technologien
Nobelstraße 12, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Telefon +49 711 970-4180 | Fax +49 711 970-4200
PD. Dr. Harald Wodrich
MFP CNRS UMR 5234
"Intracellular transport of viral structures"
University of Bordeaux SEGALEN
146 rue Leo Seignat
33076 Bordeaux, France
Tel: 0033-5-5757-1130 | Fax: 0033- 5-5757-1766
