Chemical biology 2024

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
11:00 – 13:00	Registration and light refreshments
13:00 – 13:10	Opening remarks
	Session 1: Chemical Biology meets drug discovery Chairs: Chayasith Uttamapinant – Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology, Thailand and Milena Schuhmacher – EPFL, Switzerland
13:10 – 13:45	Targeted protein degradation via molecular glues Georg Winter – CeMM, Austria
13:45 – 14:00	Selective OSBP inhibition attenuates retrograde trafficking by triggering partial Golgi degradation Nianzhe He – Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
14:00 – 14:35	Ligands for the E3 ligase substrate adapter cereblon Christina Woo – Harvard University, USA Not available on demand
14:35 – 15:05	Coffee Break and meet the speakers
15:05 – 15:40	Targeted Therapies – chemical biology for precision medicines Ulrich Schopfer – Novartis, Switzerland Not available on demand
15:40 – 15:55	Transferrin Receptor Targeting Chimeras (TransTACs) for targeted membrane and extracellular protein degradation Xin Zhou – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, USA Not available on demand
15:55 – 16:10	Chemoproteomic mode of action analysis of protein kinase degraders Nicola Berner – Technical University Munich, Germany
16:10 – 16:45	Flash talk session (even numbers) #38 Archita Agrawal #46 Pavel Kielkowski #72 Carla Duval #78 Kyohhei Fujita #104 Eszter Kozma #108 Henriette Lämmermann #126 Qunxiang Ong #130 Julia Pols #146 Nicholas Southern #150 Colin Swenson #154 Max Unger #158 Frederik Weber #160 Mingxuan Wu
16:45 – 18:30	Poster session 1 (even numbers)
18:30 – 19:30	Keynote Session: Induced Proximity: Exploring new therapeutic modalities Craig Crews – Yale University, USA (virtual) Not available on demand
19:30 – 21:00	Canteen dinner

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
	Session 2: Chemical Biology of posttranslational modifications Chair: Christina Woo – Harvard University, USA
09:00 – 09:35	EMBO Young Investigator Lecture Chemical precision tools to dissect protein glycosylation Ben Schumann – Francis Crick Institute, UK Not available on demand
09:35 – 09:50	Chemical tools to study the SHP2 phosphatase in immune cells Catia Pierotti – University of Freiburg, Germany Not available on demand
09:50 – 10:25	Synthesis and bio-functional application of diverse phosphorus-containing proteins & peptides Yong-Xiang Chen – Tsinghua University, China Not available on demand
10:25 – 10:55	Coffee Break and meet the editors
	Session 3: Non-coding RNA and unusual RNA products Chair: Peng Zou – Peking University, China
10:55 – 11:30	Small molecules targeting non-coding RNAs Maria Duca – CNRS, France
11:30 – 11:45	Accelerating protein engineering with viral-based in vivo screening and evolution technologies Bryan Dickinson – University of Chicago, USA
11:45 – 12:20	Dissecting the functional implications of alternative start codons Sarah Slavoff – Yale University, USA
12:20 – 14:00	Lunch and meet the speakers
	Session 4: Lipids and lipidation Chair: Xuyu Liu – The University of Sydney, Australia
14:00 – 14:35	Live Cell Imaging Using Raman Tag Mikiko Sodeoka – RIKEN, Japan Not available on demand
14:35 – 14:50	Deconvoluting protein S-acylation by the ZDHHC enzyme family in macrophages Anne Schuhmacher – Imperial College London, UK
14:50 – 15:05	A genetically encoded photoproximity labeling approach for mapping protein territories Nir Hananya – Technion – Israel Institute for Molecular Genetics, Israel
15:05 – 15:20	Controlling properties, composition and function of biomolecular condensates with a micropeptide “killswitch” Yaotian Zhang – Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Germany
15:20 – 16:00	Flash talk session (odd numbers) #41 Fernando Banales Mejia #43 Lydia Barber #65 Mariska de Munnik #81 Sara Gomes #85 Björn Hanf #101 Seungwoo Kim #113 Ella Livnah #115 Abbie Macmillan-Jones #127 Gamze Nur Yapici #131 Lena Quambusch #141 Angelika Seliwjorstow #145 Daria Sokolova #153 Ricarda Toerner #155 Martin Witte #163 Masahiko Yoshimura #167 Taja Zeleznik Ramuta
16:00 – 17:45	Poster session 2 (odd numbers)
17:45 – 18:00	Break
18:00 – 19:00	Keynote Session: Recording the physiological history of cells with chemical labeling Kai Johnsson – Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Germany Not available on demand
19:00 – 21:00	Canteen Dinner
21:00 – 22:00	After dinner drinks in ATC Foyer

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
	Session 5: Chemical Biology Technologies Chairs: Sarah Slavoff – Yale University, USA and Olalla Vazquez – University of Marburg, Germany
09:00 – 09:35	Photoswitchable drugs to control neuronal activity with light: from individual synapses to brain waves Pau Gorostiza – Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain Not available on demand
09:35 – 09:50	Reprogramming protein translation in spatiotemporal stress response Dalu Chang – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
09:50 – 10:25	Membrane-curvature mediated integrin activation and drug discovery Bianxiao Cui – Stanford University, USA
10:25 – 10:55	Coffee Break and meet the editors
10:55 – 11:30	Modulating mucin glycoproteins for health maintenance and disease therapy Deborah Fass, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
11:30 – 11:45	An improved Caprola variant for recording calcium activity Nicola Porzberg – Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research, Germany
11:45 – 12:00	Genetically encoded photocatalysis for spatially restricted profiling of biomolecules Peng Zou – Peking University, China
12:00 – 12:15	Targeting the fine-tuned and localized production of reactive oxygen species by inhibiting NADPH oxidases Sara Marchese – University of Pavia, Italy
12:15 – 14:00	Lunch and meet the speakers
	Session 6: Peptide therapeutics and computational protein design Chairs: Andy Wilson – University of Birmingham, UK and Georg Winter – CeMM, Austria
14:00 – 14:35	Targeting protein-protein interactions in receptor complexes Kristian Stromgaard – University of Copenhagen, Denmark
14:35 – 14:50	Unveiling hidden functions of post-dietary electrophilic modifications in platelet pathophysiology using integrated phenotypic and chemoproteomic approaches Xuyu Liu – The University of Sydney, Australia
14:50 – 15:05	A druggable ubiquitin-like conjugation system controls hippo pathway activity Maya Bulos – The Scripps Research Institute, USA Not available on demand
15:05 – 17:30	Poster session 3 (all numbers)
17:30 – 18:05	Chemical biology approaches for a quantitative understanding of PPI stabilization; or how to identify molecular glues Luc Brunsveld – Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands Not available on demand
18:05 – 18:20	Understanding and manipulating protein-protein interactions of Aurora-A Kinase employing intrinsically disordered regions Andy Wilson – University of Birmingham, UK
18:20 – 18:55	Expanding the universe of functional proteins by computational design Bruno Correia – Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
19:00 – 21:00	Conference Dinner
21:00 – 00:00	Conference Party with Band

Time (Europe/Berlin)	Session
	Session 7: Epigenetics and genetic editing tools Chair: Patrick Rabe – University of Oxford, UK
09:00 – 09:35	Designer proteins for decoding the function of epigenetic DNA modifications Daniel Summerer – TU Dortmund University, Germany Not available on demand
09:35 – 09:50	A tunable and versatile chemogenetic near-infrared fluorescent reporter Lina El Hajji – Sorbonne Université, École Normale Supérieure, Université PSL, CNRS, France
09:50 – 10:25	Chemical biology tools for microbiology Olalla Vazquez – Marburg University, Germany Not available on demand
10:25 – 10:55	Coffee Break and meet the speakers
10:55 – 11:30	Frontiers in site-directed RNA editing Thorsten Stafforst – University of Tubingen, Germany
11:30 – 11:45	Recombinase-controlled multiphase condensates for CRISPR-based diagnostics Chayasith Uttamapinant – Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology, Thailand
11:45 – 12:45	Keynote Session: Chemistry of natural product pathways Sarah O’Connor – Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Germany Not available on demand
12:45 – 13:00	Poster prize announcements + closing remarks
13:00 – 13:30	Packed Lunch and departure

On-site registration fees include admission, conference materials, meals and coffee breaks. Participants are expected to book and pay their own accommodation and travel expenses.

Virtual registration fees include access to all of the talks (livestreamed and on demand) and facility to submit questions.

On-site Academia	€450
On-site PhD Student	€350
On-site Industry	€750
Virtual Academia	€200
Virtual PhD Student	€150
Virtual Industry	€275

A letter to support your visa application will be issued, on request, once payment of the registration fee is confirmed.

We recommend that you book your visa appointment as soon as possible, to avoid any delay with your visa application.

Accredited journalists may be eligible to register for complimentary press registration. Registrants may be required to provide accreditation or equivalent proof of press membership after registration. Please contact events@embl.de for more information. Please note that we do not offer complimentary registrations for editors of scientific journals.

Confirmation and payment

Registration will be on a first come, first served basis. Your place can only be confirmed after payment of the registration fee. If you are added to our waiting list, please consider taking advantage of our offerings to participate virtually.

On-site participants: Types of payments accepted are international bank transfers and credit card payments. 

Virtual participants: We are only able to accept card payments. In exceptional cases we can accept bank transfers. Please contact events@embl.de for details.

Abstract submission

Only participants registering to attend the on-site event are eligible to submit an abstract. Abstracts will not be accepted from virtual participants.

After registration you can submit your abstract via a separate link that will be provided in the email confirmation. Alternatively, you can access the link on the confirmation page directly after registering. The same login credentials are used for both processes.

Please note:

Abstract body: The limit of 2000 characters refers to manually typed text and excludes spaces. If an error occurs try using a different web browser (preferably Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox).

If you copy-paste the text into the form, hidden formatting might still be included which may cause the text to exceed the 2,000 character limit resulting in an error message. We recommend you clear all formatting before pasting in the text.

If you have special symbols in your text, make sure you are using Unicode characters, otherwise these will not be recognised.

Title: The title should not exceed 20 words. Only the first word of the title should start with a capital letter and the rest should be lowercase.

Authors and affiliations: Please fill in the author’s details as requested in the online form. The compulsory fields are: First Name, Last Name, Organisation Name (Affiliation or Company), Country and Email.

Kindly mark only one author in the role of First Author and please don’t forget to indicate who will be the Presenter.

Please enter your co-authors correctly via the system by adding accounts together with their organisation/institute. Do not copy-paste them into the body of the abstract text, as they will not be indexed in the abstract book.

Presentation types: When submitting your abstract, you can apply for an oral or poster presentation. A selection process will take place with the results announced 2-3 weeks after the abstract submission deadline.

For detailed instructions on how to submit a conference abstract, follow the instructions provided in this video.

Please check our FAQs pages for further information on how to submit an abstract.

Financial assistance

Limited financial assistance is provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO in the form of both registration fee waivers and travel grants. These are available for on-site participants at EMBL Conferences and EMBO|EMBL Symposia, and for on-site and virtual participants at EMBO Workshops. We are currently working on securing funding for all virtual participants, and ask that you please apply for financial assistance for both on-site and virtual participation. 

Your place in the meeting is only confirmed by paying the registration fee, which is mandatory even when receiving a fee waiver.

Registration fee waiver

The fee waiver will cover the registration sum that you have paid to attend the course or conference.

Travel grant

The travel grant will cover the cost of travel to an on-site event (airfare, train, bus, taxi, accommodation, visa, and/or registration fees*) and is provided up to specified caps which are normally as follows:

–up to €500 for any participant travelling to an EMBO Workshop.

–up to €1000 for any participant working in Chile, India, Singapore or Taiwan travelling to an EMBO Workshop.

–up to €700 for any participant working in Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, and Turkey travelling to an EMBO Workshop.

*Registration fees are only covered for EMBO Workshops

The organisers may reduce the grant cap to accommodate more participants. Recipients will be notified of their travel cap amount when they are informed of the outcome of their application. Original receipts must be provided with your signature for all costs incurred within two months of completion of travel. Scanned copies cannot be accepted.

Childcare grant (EMBO Workshops only)

For EMBO Workshop participants with children, there is the possibility to apply for a childcare grant to offset child care costs incurred by participants or speakers when participating at a conference. Eligible costs include fees for a baby-sitter or child-care facility, travel costs for a caregiver, or travel costs for taking the child to the meeting etc. Please note that priority will be given to early stage researchers. A maximum amount of €500 can be awarded per participant applying for an EMBO childcare grant. In order to apply for this grant for EMBO Workshops, you must be registered by the abstract submission deadline.

Application

On-site participants

You may apply for financial assistance when submitting your abstract. In your application you will be asked to answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.

Virtual participants

If you are attending virtually, you can apply for financial assistance in the submission portal by the abstract deadline. Read the instructions on how to apply for financial assistance. Only submissions for financial assistance will be accepted. Presentation abstracts cannot be submitted here and will be declined. 

In your application you will be asked to summarise your current work,  answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance, and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.

Selection

The scientific organisers will select the recipients of all financial assistance during the abstract selection process. Results will be announced approximately 6 – 8 weeks before the event start date, however for some events this may be delayed. Selection results do not impact your admission to the meeting. Selection is based on scientific merit, your current work or study location, the reasons for needing financial support, and the impact this event will have on your career.

Reimbursement

Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts (from travel costs) have been received.

Further details

View our list of external funding opportunities and information on attending a conference as an event reporter.

For further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.

Accommodation is not included in the conference registration fee.

As further changes in our events are possible, you should book flights, trains and hotels with flexible options and favourable cancellation conditions.

The hotels below have rooms on hold for participants until 12 August 2024, in some cases at special rates. Please email the hotel directly, quoting the booking code CHB24-01 to confirm the exact price of the room.

Hotel Anlage	Hotel ibis Heidelberg	Meininger Heidelberg
B&B Hotel	Hotel ISG	Premier Inn Heidelberg City
Hilton Heidelberg

Travel information

For travel information, please see here.

If you are travelling to the conference within Germany then you are eligible for the Deutsche Bahn ‘Event Ticket’ (called the ‘Veranstaltungsticket’ in German). This will result in a lower ticket price if your travel distance to Heidelberg is more than 100 km. You need to provide proof of your event attendance when purchasing the ticket.

For more information in English see here or in German see here.

You can book your ticket here.

Conference shuttle buses

Conference shuttle buses are free of charge for participants, and depart from designated bus stops near the hotels to EMBL and back, mornings and evenings.

Please find the conference shuttle bus schedule here (28 August 2024)

The bus stops for this conference are:

• Staycity Aparthotel (Speyerer Str. 7)
• Kurfürsten-Anlage (Opposite Main Train Station)
• Premier Inn (Kurfürsten-Anlage 23)
• Leonardo Hotel Heidelberg City Center (Bergheimer Str. 63)
• Neckarmünzplatz (Heidelberg Tourist Information)
• Peterskirche (Bus stop)
• Hilton Hotel (Kurfürsten-Anlage 1)
• ISG Hotel (Im Eichwald 19)

View Conference shuttle bus stops and hotels in a larger map. Please note that not every bus stop will be used for every event.

Further details

Address: EMBL, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.

For more information about accommodation and travel, please refer to the FAQ page.

Catering

All meals and coffee breaks are included in the registration fee. Our catering staff will prepare a wide variety of vegetarian meals, meat and fish dishes, soups, pasta, fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as a variety of desserts.

Please wear your badge at all times when serving yourself.

No food or drinks are allowed in the auditorium.

Charging lockers

There are lockers available next to the stairs leading down into the Auditorium. You will find some of those equipped with sockets to charge your smartphone/tablet etc.

Electricity and charging station

In most places the electricity is 220 volts AC (50 cycles). An adaptor and a plug that fits the German socket may be needed for your appliances/laptop (i.e. American, Japanese, etc.). A USB charging station for electronic devices is available at the registration desk.

EMBL merchandise

If you are interested in purchasing EMBL merchandise (products presented in the glass display in the registration area), please email the EMBL shop to place an order or get in contact with your Course Organiser.

Kindly note the EMBL shop is only open upon request and all purchases must be made in cash (Euros only).

Health and safety notes

Please read EMBL’s COVID-19 safety policy for on-site events.
Do not smoke in any EMBL building.
Eating and drinking is prohibited in the Auditorium and all laboratories.
Do not enter any restricted areas or the laboratories unless instructed to do so.

If first aid is required …

• The first aid room is located next to the ATC Registration Desk (room 10- 205).
• Dial the Emergency number 222 from any EMBL internal phone only.
• Where is the accident? What happened? How many injured?
• Emergency number 06221-387 7821 from mobile phones.
• Please report all accidents to the conference officer at the registration desk.

In case of fire …

• Press the nearest fire alarm button or the Emergency number 222 from any internal phone.
• A loud fire alarm will go off if an evacuation is required. On hearing the alarm leave the building immediately following the escape route and fire wardens and head to one of the meeting points
• Do not use the lifts.

Beyond first aid…

Please remember to bring your own medication, if needed, to the conference. Note that the next pharmacy is a 4-minute drive from the EMBL, but for many medications you will be required to see a doctor to get a prescription.

Ensure in advance that your medical insurance will cover you during your visit in the event that you do need to see a doctor while in Heidelberg. In any case, the EMBL Course and Conference Office will assist you to get to the pharmacy and a doctor of your choice if necessary.

Internet

Wi-Fi is available on campus using the EMBL-Events network and the event specific password, which will be provided on site. The eduroam network (secure, worldwide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community) is also available.

Lost and found

‘’Lost and Found’’ items are kept at the registration desk until the end of the conference.

Luggage

There are lockers available on-site to store your luggage, which require a 2 EURO coin to operate. There is another luggage room on level E0, which is free to use but remains unlocked during the conference.

Nursing room

There is a nursing room available in the ATC Rooftop Lounge on level A29.

Photography

During the conference, an EMBL Photographer may be taking photos. If you would not like to appear in these, please inform the photographer or a member of the Course and Conference Office.

Printing

We can help to print your boarding pass/train ticket. Please send it to events@embl.de and collect your print-outs at the registration desk.

Room for prayer, yoga and meditation

There is a room for prayer, meditation and yoga located on level E0 behind the Auditorium. Please be respectful of others using the room.

Sightseeing

A variety of activities in Heidelberg can be found on the website of Heidelberg Marketing.

Travel to and from the venue

During the event we provide conference shuttle buses to and from EMBL. In addition, there is the public bus 39A that serves the EMBL campus and taxis can be easily booked at any time. Information on the conference shuttle buses can be found on the individual event website and more detailed information on travelling to EMBL can be found on our Travel Information page.

Useful German expressions

Hello	Hallo
Goodbye	Auf Wiedersehen (formal) Tschüss (informal)
Good morning	Guten Morgen
Good afternoon	Guten Tag
Good evening	Guten Abend
Good night	Gute Nacht
I’m sorry	Es tut mir leid
Excuse me…	Entschuldigen Sie
How are you?	Wie gehts?
I’m fine thanks. And you?	Mir geht es gut , danke. Und Dir/Ihnen?
What is your name	Wie heißen Sie? (formal) Wie heißt du? (informal)
My name is..	Ich heiße..
Do you speak English	Sprechen Sie englisch?
I don’t understand	Ich verstehe nicht
Please speak more slowly	Können Sie bitte langsamer sprechen
Thank you	Dankeschön
Where is the toilet?	Wo ist die Toilette?
Please call me a taxi	Bitte rufen Sie mir ein Taxi
How do I get to….?	Wie komme ich zum/zur…..?
A beer/two beers please	Ein Bier/zwei Bier bitte
A glass of red/white wine please	Ein Glas Rot/Weisswein bitte
The menu, please	Die Speisekarte, bitte
Is there a local speciality?	Gibt es eine Spezialität aus dieser Gegend?
I’m vegetarian	Ich bin Vegetarier
It was delicious	Es war hervorragend
The bill, please	Die Rechnung, bitte
I have a headache	Ich habe Kopfschmerzen
I have a sore throat	Ich habe Halsschmerzen
My stomach hurts	Ich habe Magenschmerzen
I’m allergic to	Ich bin allergisch gegen
I need a doctor who speaks English	Ich brauche einen Arzt, der englisch spricht.

What’s included?

• Access to all the livestreamed talks
• Video library of the recorded talks during the event and for two weeks afterwards. Please note: at the request of individual speakers, some talks are not recorded.
• Facility to submit questions

Please note that only on-site participants are able to submit abstracts and participate in the poster sessions.

Event platform

We are using an event platform for this conference. More information about the platform will be shared ahead of the conference.

Guidelines

• Do not broadcast the conference to unregistered participants.
• You are encouraged to tweet and post about the event. Tweet unless the speaker specifically says otherwise, but be mindful of unpublished data. 
• Please do not capture, transmit or redistribute data presented at the meeting.

Additional information can be found in our Code of Conduct.

Health and well-being

It is important to stay healthy and move around, especially when you are attending an event virtually. We have put together a few coffee break stretches and yoga videos in the conference platform for you to enjoy during the event.

How to ask questions

Please use the Q&A function in the event platform.

If you have any other questions, you can go to the Help Desk in the event platform. Click on ‘more’ on the top menu and click Help Desk. 

Time zone

The programme is planned based on the Europe/Berlin time zone, unless otherwise stated. Please take your time zone into consideration when planning your attendance.

Please find additional information including FAQs, terms and conditions, COVID-19 safety policy and travelling to EMBL on our Information for participants page.

COVID-19 information for on-site events at EMBL Heidelberg can be found in our COVID-19 FAQs.