Summer Conference on Molecular Mechanisms of Development

15th & 16th February 2003

Report for the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cell & Developmental Biology http://www.anzscdbi.adelaide.edu.au/index.html

The first Summer Conference on Molecular Mechanisms in Development in Perth was a great success!

The first “Summer Conference on Molecular Mechanisms in Development” was held on the beautiful campus of the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth. Miranda Grounds from the School of Anatomy and Human Biology of UWA organized the meeting, together with Lydia Sorokin and Rupert Hallmann, two visiting professors from Lund University. The two-day conference was well attended, and was an excellent addition to the newly established 3rd year course in Developmental Biology at UWA. Students from the course had the prime chance of participating in a high impact conference and to make contact with some of the world's leading experts in their fields:

Prof. Ruth Lehmann: Skirball Institute, New York, presented a firework of data on the migration of primordial germ cells into their final destination, the forming gonad, and the identification of gene products that play a crucial role in this process, like ‘slam’ - slow as molasses, a new gene product, and ‘columbus’, which could be identified as enzyme in the mevalonate synthesis.

Barbara Demeneix: Natural History Museum, Paris, presented work on her two central fields of interest, the use of cationic lipids for the non-viral gene transfer across the blood-brain-barrier into the central nervous system in the mouse, and the role of thyroid hormone in amphibian development.

Steve Burden: also Skirball Institute, New York discussed his work on the formation of the neuromuscular synapse. The neuromuscular synapse forms in a complex exchange of signals between the motorneuron, the muscle fiber and Schwann cells. The role of agrin in fixing the acetylcholinreceptor and a new muscle specific receptortyrosinekinase ‘musk’ at the site of the future synapse were discussed. Musk mRNA is localized specifically at the future neuromuscular synapse, while other proteins like neuregulin-1 or the Acetylcholinreceptor are synthesized elsewhere, and are subsequently deposited in the synapse.

Jonathan Raper: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, discussed his latest data on the role of chemokines, namely the factor SDF-1, for the axonal outgrowth and survival of neurons. Professor Raper was the first to identify factors which limit neuron – neuron adhesion, nowadays named semaphorin sema3A. The semaphorins are a superfamily with seven subfamilies, and Professor Raper presented not only the biological function of those, but also of other molecules like ‘slit-2’, which interferes with axon outgrowth as well. His presentation focused on the identification of ‘modulatory guidance cues’, factors like SDF-1, known as a chemotactic signal for leukocytes, which is neither repellent nor chemotactic for neurons. However, its presence reduces the neuronal response to sema3A and slit-2. Furthermore, mice without functional receptors for the SDF-1, CXCR4, show axonal guidance defects, suggesting that the modulating activity is important for the development of the normal development of the nervous system.

Reinhard Faessler: Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried, discussed data on his bone marrow specific knockout of the integrin beta1 chain. Using a very elegant approach, his lab produced mice with this integrin gene being inactive only in bone marrow stem cells. With this approach, Professor Faessler convincingly showed that once stem cells are located in the bone marrow they do not need the beta1-integrins for either differentiation into different hematopoietic cell lineages nor for the migration out into the blood stream.

Scientists from different Australian universities also presented excellent work, and a lively discussion made the conference a success.

We look forward to the next summer conference and the next 3rd year course in Developmental Biology (hb308) will take place in January 2004 at the School of Anatomy and Human Biology. The course is open to all interested scientists and students. Please get further information from the homepage http://www.lab.anhb.uwa.edu.au/hb308/