Synthetic Morphogenesis: From Gene Circuits to Tissue Architecture

Overview

The programme, poster listing, bus schedule and onsite handout (with logistical information) are now available for download. 

Symposium Overview

Morphogenesis, the generation of shape, is a topic of considerable interest in basic research with important implications in biomedicine. Across scales, from subcellular structures to multicellular systems shape is intimately linked with function. While traditional genetic approaches have allowed the identification of key components controlling individual morphogenetic processes, recent advances in synthetic biology are opening the possibility to engineer gene circuits, signal systems, and biomaterials to not only probe morphogenesis but also to re-construct it and direct it.

Synthetic morphogenesis is a novel and exciting field that requires collaboration among traditionally distinct scientific communities, from developmental biologists, to chemists and material scientists. This symposium will bring together scientists from these different disciplines to discuss the extent to which cells/tissues/organs can be built de novo starting from isolated components. 

Session Topics

• Artificial cell/tissue
• Organoids
• Controlling tissues
• Patterning and self-organisation
• Mechanics
• Gene expression dynamics/gene circuits

Speakers

Speakers and Trainers

Speakers

Naama Barkai

Weizmann Institute of Science

Israel

Buzz Baum

University College London

UK

Christopher Chen

Boston University

USA

Justin Crocker

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Stefano De Renzis

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Miki Ebisuya

EMBL Barcelona, Spain and RIKEN BDR

Japan

Zev Gartner

University of California San Francisco

USA

Darren Gilmour

University of Zurich

Switzerland

Anne Grapin-Botton

University of Copenhagen

Denmark

Veronica A. Grieneisen

Cardiff University

United Kingdom

Meritxell Huch

University of Cambridge

United Kingdom

Mustafa Khammash

ETH Zurich

Switzerland

Anna Kicheva

Institute of Science and Technology Austria

Austria

Michael Levin

Tufts University

USA

Wendell Lim

University of California, San Francisco and Howard Hughes Medical Institute

USA

Alfonso Martinez Arias

University of Cambridge

United Kingdom

Milica Radisic

University of Toronto

Canada

James Sharpe

EMBL Barcelona

Spain

Joachim Spatz

Max Planck Institute for Medical Research

Germany

Dora Tang

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics

Germany

Manuel Théry

Hôpital Saint-Louis

France

Ron Weiss

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

USA

Scientific Organisers

Stefano De Renzis

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Miki Ebisuya

EMBL Barcelona, Spain and RIKEN BDR

Japan

Wendell Lim

University of California, San Francisco and Howard Hughes Medical Institute

USA

James Sharpe

EMBL Barcelona

Spain

Conference Organisers

Lisa Trinh

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Programme