Models to study ancient host-pathogen interactions: lessons from Crete

The Aegean Conferences' first International Conference on Model Hosts took place on the picturesque Greek island of Crete. This meeting was the first of its kind and gathered together international experts who are using a vast array of hosts as models of infection, including worms, insects, mice, fish, rats, humans, squids, pigs, monkeys, protozoa, amoebae and ticks.     

Forthcoming Meetings

9th Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology Molecular Pathways of Cell Growth Control
2nd International Conference on Negative Regulators of Hematopoiesis
European Hair Research Society     

Computational biology: plus c'est la même chose,plus ça change

A report on the joint 19th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB)/10th Annual European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB) meetings and the 7th International Society for Computational Biology Student Council Symposium, Vienna, Austria, 15-19 July 2011.     

A bright future for Chlamydomonas

A report on the 12th International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas, Portland, USA, 9-14 May 2006.     

Conquering computational challenges of omics data and post-ENCODE paradigms

A report on the 21st Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) and 12th European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB), held in Berlin, Germany, July 21-23, 2013.     

New molecular targets for anticancer therapy

The First International Conference on New Molecular Targets for Anticancer TherapyNaples, Italy. June 22–23 1998     

Joining forces in the quest for orthologs

A report of the 24th International Conference on Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, Manchester, UK, 19-24 July 2009.     

Understanding biology through intelligent systems

A report on the Tenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), Edmonton, Canada, 3-7 August 2002.     

An international showcase of bioinformatics research

A report on the 11th International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 29 June - 3 July 2003.     

The intelligence in developing systems for molecular biology

A report on the 14th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), Fortaleza, Brazil, 6-10 August 2006.     

The rise of translational bioinformatics

ABSTRACT: A report on the 20th International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), held at Long Beach, California, USA, July 15-17, 2012.     

An illuminated view of molecular biology

A report on the 18th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) and the 7th Special Interest Group meeting on Alternative Splicing, Boston, USA, 9-13 July 2010.     

Latin America multidisciplinary research on heat shock proteins and cell stress: proceedings of the first conference of the Latin America Chapter of the Cell Stress Society International

The First Conference of the Latin America Chapter of the Cell Stress Society International (CSSI) organized by CSSI was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 11–14, 2014. The Latin America Chapter of the CSSI (LAC-CSSI) was established at the Workshop on the Molecular Biology of the Stress Response, Porto Alegre, Brazil, May 2012. The chapter’s first meeting took place in the beautiful city of Montevideo and was chaired by the first (LAC-CSSI) elected president Professor María Bausero. Forty-two invited speakers presented their work to more than 100 scientists. The first day of the conference was dedicated to an introductory program for students, young investigators, and participants new to the field of molecular chaperones and the stress response. These seminars were held in the Pasteur Institute of Montevideo and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of the Republic. These institutions were carefully selected to give foreign participants a broad view of the diversity of students and institutions doing research in Uruguay, as well as an opportunity for direct interaction with our scientists and students. Invited speakers for the seminar series were Dr. Wolfgang Schumann, Dr. Cristina Bonorino, Dr. Antonio De Maio, Dr. Ian Brown, Dr. Rafael Radi, Dr. Daniel Ciocca, and Dr. Celia Quijano. The remaining days of the conference took place at the Sheraton Hotel in Montevideo, and the scientific sessions are discussed below.     

The flies of Icarus: science with wings in Crete

Around 100 researchers gathered at the eighteenth EMBO Conference on ‘The Molecular and Developmental Biology of Drosophila’, which took place in Crete in June 2012. Whether deconstructing or integrating at the genetic, cellular or organ level, the talks highlighted the synergy of combining methods, approaches and disciplines in this increasingly versatile model system.     

Water, Shape Recognition, Salt Bridges, and Cation-Pi Interactions Differentiate Peptide Recognition of the HIV Rev-Responsive Element

Recognition of the human immunodeficiency virus Rev-responsive element (RRE) RNA by the Rev protein is an essential step in the viral life cycle. Formation of the Rev-RRE complex signals nucleocytoplasmic export of unspliced and partially spliced viral RNA. Essential components of the complex have been localized to a minimal arginine-rich Rev peptide and stem IIB of RRE. In vitro selection studies have identified a synthetic peptide known as RSG 1.2 that binds with better specificity and affinity to RRE than the Rev peptide. NMR structures of both peptide-RNA complexes of Rev and RSG 1.2 bound to RRE stem IIB have been solved and reveal gross structural differences between the two bound complexes. Molecular dynamics simulations of the Rev and RSG 1.2 peptides in complex with RRE stem IIB have been simulated to better understand on an atomic level how two arginine-rich peptides of similar length recognize the same sequence of RNA with such different structural motifs. While the Rev peptide employs some base-specific hydrogen bonding for recognition of RRE, shape recognition, through contact with the sugar-phosphate backbone, and cation-pi interactions are also important. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that RSG 1.2 binds more tightly to the RRE sequence than Rev by forming more base-specific contacts, using water to mediate peptide-RNA contacts, and is held in place by a strong salt bridge network spanning the major groove of the RNA.     

Celebrating 100 years of Drosophila research

The seventeenth EMBO Conference on the Molecular and Developmental Biology of Drosophila took place in Kolymbari, Crete, between 20 and 26 June 2010. The conference covered a broad range of topics and much progress was made by combining two or more fields of study. Such combinations included quantitative approaches to cell and developmental biology, dissecting interrelations of physiology and development and integrated genomic analysis.     

The AOHUPO Membrane Proteomics Initiative, Fourth Workshop 22 June 2008, Cairns, Australia

The Fourth Asia Oceania Human Proteome Organisation Membrane Proteomics Initiative (AOHUPO MPI) Workshop took place on 22 June 2008 in Cairns, Australia, with approximately 90 attendees from academia and industry. Participants from ten of the seventeen collaborating centres presented workshop papers. This was part of the pre-conference programme of the Joint Fourth Asian Oceania Human Proteome Organisation Conference and the Second Pacific Rim International Conference on Protein Structure.     

ISC News

Italy would seem to be the place to be in 1995! At the Fourth Meeting of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (which took place in May at Amelia Island Plantation in Jacksonville, Florida), Serge Daan, who will chair the next Gordon Conference on Chronobiology, announced that the meeting will be held April 30 to May 5 in Barga, Italy. Not to be outdone, the Sixth Colloquium of the International Society for Endocytobiology, which usually has a component on biological rhythms, will take place September 5 to 10 at the University of Torino. Finally, the World Congress on Chronobiology will be a joint meeting of the ISC (its XXII Conference) and other societies for chronobiology from September 6 to 10 in Ferrara. For a variety of reasons, these dates are etched in stone; thus, we have an embarrassment of riches.