Established and emerging models for eukaryotic development and evolution
For more than a century, biology has been shaped by a handful of powerful model organisms that have transformed our understanding of genetics, development, cell biology, and evolution. Today, however, rapid advances in genome sequencing, single-cell technologies, imaging, genome editing, and computational biology are revealing the extraordinary diversity of eukaryotic life and highlighting the need for a broader, more comparative perspective. The conference « Established and Emerging Models for Eukaryotic Evolution and Development » brings together researchers working across the eukaryotic tree of life to explore a new vision for biological model systems. Rather than replacing established models, the conference seeks to redefine what constitutes a model in modern biology, embracing organisms, biological processes, and molecular networks that provide unique insight into fundamental questions.
The meeting will unite scientists studying animals, plants, fungi, algae, protists, and other eukaryotic lineages, fostering dialogue across evolutionary biology, developmental biology, genomics, systems biology, computational biology, and ecology. Through comparative thinking and interdisciplinary exchange, participants will address some of biology's most enduring questions: How do developmental programs evolve? How do cells organize into complex multicellular organisms? Which biological principles are universal, and which represent lineage-specific innovations?
By emphasizing comparative approaches, development of shared tools and infrastructures, methodological advances and challenges, the meeting aims to accelerate the emergence of the next generation of experimental model organisms and offers a timely opportunity to rethink how we investigate life's diversity.
The following topics will be covered:
- Developmental patterns, mechanisms and evolution of cell biology and development
- Genomics, Evolutionary mechanisms
- Signalling and metabolism
- Genomics and functional approaches, Modelling and integration
- Evolution of biotic and abiotic interactions
- Structuring landscape for Model development
Outstanding invited speakers on these six topics will be complemented by the participation of more junior scientists in selected oral presentations chosen from abstracts. Poster sessions will give an opportunity for younger scientists to present their work in the form of posters.
Chairperson
Jan de Vries
University of Göttingen Dept. of Applied Bioinformatics, Julia-Lermontowa-Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Allemagne
Phone : +495513923755
E-mail : devries.jan@uni-goettingen.de
Vice-chairperson
Julia Morales
CNRS LBI2M UMR8227 Station Biologique de Roscoff, Pl. Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France
Phone : +33298292369
E-mail : julia.morales@sb-roscoff.fr
(provisional titles)
Isabel ALMUDI CABRERO (Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain)
TBA
Elena CASACUBERTA (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain)
The emergence of new model organisms and rethinking fundamental questions in evolutionary biology
Bénédicte CHARRIER (IGFL, CNRS, Lyon, France)
3D growth in brown algae: could a universal cellular mechanism underlie the diversity of growth strategies?
Susana COELHO (Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen, Germany)
Unexpected partners: Ectocarpus as a model for reproductive development and host-virus interactions
Johan DECELLE (LPCV, CNRS, Grenoble, France)
Metamorphosis of an algal cell inside a host unveiled by subcellular imaging
Pierre-Marc DELAUX (LRSV, Toulouse, France)
Evolution of Plant - microbe interactions across timescales
Jan DE VRIES (University Goettingen, Germany)
Insights into the evolution of fundamental molecular programs of embryophytes from their closest algal relatives
Angela FALCIATORE (Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris, France)
Establishing new diatom model systems to uncover phytoplankton functional diversity and mechanisms of adaptation to changing marine environments
Amro HAMDOUN (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diegom, La Jolla, USA)
Genome engineering for ecological developmental biology in sea urchins: From observation to causality
Aissam IKMI (EMBL Heidelberg, Germany)
Morphogenesis across the life cycle: from mechanisms to evolution
Junko KYOZUKA (Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan)
The origin and evolution of plant hormone signaling
Yi-Jyun LUO (Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan)
Decoding animal evolutionary novelties: from genome architecture to cell type evolution
Ferdinand MARLETAZ (University College, London, UK)
Two bodies, one genome: the regulatory bases of sea urchin metamorphosis
Alex McDOUGALL (Laboratoire de biologie du développement, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France)
Emergence of embryonic shape during early ascidian development
Katharina MELKONIAN-EZEKIAN (LRSV, Toulouse, France)
TBA
Sabeeha MERCHANT (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
TBA
Julia MORALES (CNRS, Roscoff, France)
Translation control mechanisms in development
Alexandre PAIX (Max Planck Institute Tubingen, Germany)
Genome editing across biological models, similar but not identical
Nipam PATEL (MBL Hoods Hole, USA)
Germline regeneration in the amphipod crustacean, Parhyale hawaiensis
Hugues ROEST-CROLLIUS (Institut de Biologie de l’ENS IBENS, Paris, France)
Comparative genomics in the era of biodiversity genome projects
Anne SIEGEL (IRISA, Rennes, France)
TBA
Marine VALLET (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany)
Beyond host and parasite: chemical ecology of multipartite interactions in the plankton
Notification of acceptance or rejection for the submitted paper will be intimated within 15 working days of abstract submission deadline. If your abstract is accepted, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with instructions for joining the meeting.