Virtual Workshop: Cell State Transitions: Approaches, Experimental Systems and Models
Date: 14 – 17 December 2020
Location: Online
Organisers: Kevin Chalut and Austin Smith
Transitions between cellular identities are fundamental to metazoan biology, from development to disease. Yet how cells navigate accurately between distinct identities remains poorly understood. A primary challenge is that transition is intrinsically dynamic, an outcome of time and stimulation. The methodology and the theory necessary to capture and decode these molecular and cellular dynamics are underdeveloped.
This Workshop aims to highlight innovative interdisciplinary approaches to the question of how biological transitions occur. We bring together practitioners in stem cell and developmental biology with theorists and experimentalists from physics, mathematics and engineering. The goal is to explore avenues for examining cell state transitions across multiple scales. We will consider concepts, tools and technologies, and model systems.
The Workshop will be run in virtual format using bespoke software to facilitate break out discussions. Early-career researchers will be offered a 1 to 1 mentoring opportunity with a senior investigator. The Workshop will be free for those selected to attend.
Published Information from the Workshop
- A spotlight article was written by Carla Mulas, Agathe Chaigne, Austin Smith, Kevin J. Chalut and was published in Development Journal in October 2021.
Organisers & speakers
Kevin Chalut MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, UK
Austin Smith MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, UK
Kazuhiro Aoki National Institute for Basic Biology, Japan
Naama Barkai Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
James Briscoe Francis Crick Institute, UK
Miki Ebisuya EMBL – Barcelona, Spain
Sui Huang Institute for Systems Biology, USA
Ryoichiro Kageyama Kyoto University, Japan
Prisca Liberali The Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland
Sally Lowell University of Edinburgh, UK
Ben MacArthur University of Southampton, UK
Andrew Oates Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
Ana Pombo Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Germany
Ramesh Shivdasani Harvard University, USA
Aryeh Warmflash Rice University, USA
Sara Wickström Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Germany
Early-career researchers
The deadline date for applications has now passed.
We offer 10 places for early-career researchers (PhD, postdocs and PIs in the first 3 years of their first appointment) to attend our virtual Workshops along with the our invited speakers. Please complete the application form and attach a one page CV and an abstract. PhD and postdoc applicants should include a letter of support from their supervisor
All attendees are expected to actively contribute to the Workshops by asking questions at presentation sessions and taking part in discussions.
At some Workshops, early-career scientists are given additional responsibilities to promote their involvement, such as:
- Write a daily blog for the Node
- Summarise the previous day’s themes to set the scene for the next day’s sessions
- Present a poster on their research interests
- Propose future directions and collaborations
- Give a short talk on their research
- Make a short 2 minute video on their experience at the Workshop
Most of these activities would be carried out in pairs or small groups and often with the support of more senior scientists present.