Novelty, Co-option and Divergence During Gene Network Evolution
Organisers: James Hombría and Antónia Monteiro
Date: 14-17 June 2026
Location: Buxted Park, East Sussex, UK
Recent studies on the evolution of novel traits provide a window of opportunity to understand how existing gene-regulatory networks (GRNs) are redeployed to new developmental contexts during evolution. Several GRNs controlling organ development and physiology have been studied in animal models, but we lack a basic understanding of how these might have evolved. To understand how GRNs change during evolution, at this meeting we will discuss how novelty evolves in existing GRNs, and how such variations are selected to facilitate adaptation.
We hope to bring together researchers working on gene regulation, developmental biology, mathematical modelling and evolution. The invited researchers work on a variety of complex systems and are examining how these systems originated and have evolved over time. By comparing perspectives and experimental approaches to examine the evolution of their specific systems, we hope to draw common threads that may be applicable to most systems, and we aim to highlight these after the meeting in a Review article.
Organisers & speakers
James C-G Hombría CABD (CSIC-JA-UPO), Spain
Antónia Monteiro National University of Singapore, Singapore
Michalis Averof Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon (IGFL), CNRS, France
Heather Bruce Marine Biological Laboratory, USA
Margarida Cardoso Moreira Francis Crick Institute, UK
Anna Di Gregorio New York University College of Dentistry, USA
James DiFrisco The Francis Crick institute, UK
Isabel Almudi Cabrero University of Barcelona, Spain
Nuria Flames Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia IBV-CSIC, Spain
Veronica Hinman Carnegie Melon University, USA
Junil Kim Soongsil University, South Korea
Javier Lopez-Rios CABD, Spain
Alistair P. McGregor Durham University, UK
Joe Parker Caltech, USA
Mark S. Halfon University at Buffalo, USA
Yoshi Tomoyasu Miami University, USA
Marco Trizzino Imperial College London, UK
Patrick Tschopp University of Basel, Switzerland
Clare V. H. Baker University of Cambridge, UK
Berta Verd University of Oxford, UK
Early-career researchers
Application deadline Friday 5 December 2025
We offer 10 funded places for early-career researchers (PhD, postdocs and PIs in the first three years of their first appointment) to attend our Workshops along with the 20 invited speakers. We just ask that you pay for your own travel costs. If you would like to attend please complete the online application form and include a one page CV and a letter of support from your supervisor. If your supervisor would prefer to send the letter directly to us please ask them to email it to workshops@biologists.com
All attendees are expected to actively contribute to the Workshops by asking questions at presentation sessions and taking part in discussions, as well as giving a short talk on their research.
About Buxted Park
The Workshop will be held at the beautiful Buxted Park in East Sussex which dates back to the 12th century. The current house was built in 1722 by Sir Thomas Medley and is an elegant Grade II Palladian mansion set in 312 acres of parkland. Over the years it has played host to a number of high profile visitors including William Wordsworth, Winston Churchill, and George V and Queen Mary. Whilst it was a health hydro in the 1960s Gregory Peck, Dudley Moore and Marlon Brando were regular visitors.
Buxted Park is less than 25 miles from Gatwick Airport and 60 miles from Heathrow Airport. There are direct trains taking 1 hour 10 minutes from London Bridge to the village of Buxted which is only a mile away from the hotel.
Buxted Park Hotel
Station Road
Buxted
East Sussex
TN22 4AY
Tel: +44 (0) 1825 733333
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